Calcutta, April 2: Two Bangladeshi children, who were taken away from their parents after being caught sneaking into India and sent to a separate detention centre, can now expect a reunion, though for a short while.

Calcutta High Court today cited the United Nations Convention on children’s rights and directed the Juvenile Justice Board to arrange the Bangladeshi couple’s regular meeting with their children.

Madan Burman and Malati Burman are now in a jail in North Dinajpur’s Islampur, about 300km from Cooch Behar (see map), where the siblings, aged seven and 10, are housed.

A magistrate’s court in Islampur had said the Indian law had no provision to allow parents and children lodged in separate jails to keep in touch.

According to the law, children above five years old can meet their parents in jail, but not if they are in custody.

“As the Indian law is silent on the issue, the high court followed the UN convention,” said Jaymalya Bagchi, the lawyer appearing on behalf of the Bangladeshi parents.

The Supreme Court, he added, had empowered high court judges to follow UN conventions on issues where the Indian law was silent.

The UN says children had the right to maintain direct contact with prisoner parents through visits and correspondence, Justice Asim Roy said.

The Bangladeshis were caught without valid papers by Border Security Force jawans in North Dinajpur last July. The BSF handed them over to the Islampur police station.

Madan, 37, and Malati, 32, were produced before court, which sent them to jail on charges under Section 14 of the foreigners act, which deals with illegal entry into India.

The Juvenile Justice Board sent the children to Cooch Behar.

The parents moved the magistrate’s court in Islampur in February and prayed for permission to meet the children. But the appeal was turned down.

The couple then moved a petition before the high court.

Justice Roy today asked the Islampur jail authorities to make the necessary arrangements so that the couple could meet their children.