Dhaka, Sept 20: A Bangladeshi woman today appealed to leaders in her country and India to reunite her with her two-year-old daughter who was kidnapped, rescued and then put in an Indian children's home. Arifa, the youngest of Amena Begum's five children, was allegedly kidnapped by an Indian smuggler on august 31 from her home in Naodanga village of Kurigram district, 240 kms northwest of the capital Dhaka.

The baby was rescued but red tape has prevented the girl's return to Bangladesh, according to Begum. The two-year-old is at a children's home in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Begum said that she became physically ill after her daughter was snatched.
"I don't want to understand laws, I just want my innocent baby back on my lap," she said in her appeal, as quoted by Bangladesh's official BSS news agency.

News reports said the child was kidnapped in a dispute between the Indian criminal and the girl's father, who has gone into hiding fearing arrest for smuggling.

Bureau Report