New Delhi, Aug. 20: The Centre is working on a plan to streamline the process of deporting Bangladeshi children housed in Bengal correctional homes to save them the misery of spending years in conditions akin to a jail.

Calcutta’s Presidency correctional home alone has 46 Bangladeshi children under the age of six, who have completed their term as juvenile prisoners, but are forced to stay on because of a long and complicated bureaucratic process.

Delhi’s move comes after a team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) visited the correctional homes in Bengal towards the end of July, and is based on a specific request made by state officials.

“Parents are arrested with their children while crossing the border. Since the small children (under six) cannot stay away from their parents, they are kept in the same correctional facility as the parents.… effectively in a jail,” an official at the women and child development ministry said.

The ministry has forwarded its proposal to the external affairs ministry, which needs to approve it.

The child rights protection commission found that the children ended up spending more than twice their terms in the correctional homes.

“They spend crucial years of their childhood in conditions where they do not have freedom. All because of avoidable red-tapism,” Sandhya Bajaj, a member of the commission, told The Telegraph.

As the children near the end their stipulated time in the correctional home, their names make an equally tortuous journey through several layers of bureaucracy — to Bangladesh and back (see chart).

“The process of verifying the identity of the child is the prime culprit for the inordinate time that children have to spend in the correctional homes. Most children should be out within six months to a year, but spend around double the time,” said B.D. Sharma, Bengal’s inspector-general of police (jails).

As of July 1, the state’s correctional homes had 216 Bangladeshi children. Of them, 135, including the 46 who have completed their term, are at Presidency.

The names of children about to complete their terms is sent by the jail authorities to police, who forward them to intelligence officers.

After the names are scrutinised — for any danger they may pose to India — the list is sent to the Border Security Force (BSF).

The BSF hands the list over to their counterparts on the other side of the border — the Bangladesh Riflers (BDR).

The BDR gives the list to Bangladesh police, who verify the identity and address of the child.