Seventeen Bangladeshi women, including a child, returned home from India on Wednesday after languishing in jail there for nearly three years.

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) handed them over to Bangladesh authorities through Benapole check post on Wednesday afternoon, said officer-in-charge of Benapole immigration police, reports UNB.

The returnees are Beauty, Rubi, Sohagi, Bithi, Anandi, Sharmin, Jahanara, Parveen, Taslima, Lakhi, Rita, Yesmin, Parveen, Pori, Popy, Monika and Nasreen. They hail from different villages of Barisal, Narayanganj, Jessore, Patuakhali, Gopalganj, Dhaka, Faridpur, Narail and Khulna districts.

The OC also said all the seventeen had gone to India illegally in search of job three years back. Later, they were arrested from Mumbai and Maharashtra and sent to jail.

The decision to return them was taken following intervention of the home ministries of the two countries, he said.

The returnees were handed over to Benapole Port Police Station, said duty officer of Benapole check post immigration Saiful Islam.