Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court recently granted bail to a French passport-holder with refugee status in France, who was arrested for allegedly crossing the India-Bangladesh border without valid documents. The bail came after it was found his mother had genuinely been undergoing treatment in India since 2022.Rocky Francis D’costa is a Christian, born in Bangladesh, and a religious minority there, who allegedly faced religious persecution. He was granted refugee status in the Republic of France. His French passport is valid till June 30, 2033.Six months ago, D’costa was arrested by Indian police for not having proper documents. . His counsel submitted he had to stay back in India for his mother’s treatment. She has been undergoing treatment at Christian Medical College, Vellore or Apollo Hospitals since 2022.A report was also submitted before a single bench of Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) disclosing the physical verification and documents obtained from a private hospital in India on treatment of Stella Rozario at the time of D’costa’s arrest.On behalf of prosecution the only objection raised was that he was apprehended or arrested when he was crossing the border from India to Bangladesh and he failed to produce any cogent documents. But the seizure list showed that he had a French passport issued on Aug 5, 2023 which is valid till Aug 4, 2028. No other criminal antecedents are found against him.
