Pune, Jan. 8 -- A sessions court in Pune has convicted 18 Bangladeshi nationals for illegally entering and staying in India without valid travel documents, sentencing them to rigorous imprisonment and fines, and directing the state government to initiate deportation proceedings after completion of their jail terms. The judgment was delivered by additional sessions judge UP Kulkarni on January 5 in connection with a 2023 FIR registered at Faraskhana Police Station. A copy of the order was made available on Wednesday. The accused were found guilty under Section 3 read with Section 12(1)(c) of the Passports Act, 1967, and Section 14A(a) and (b) of the Foreigners Act, 1946. "The accused are sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years and pay a fine of Rs.500 each in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 10 days for the offence punishable under Section 3 read with Section 12(1)(c) of the Passports Act. The accused are sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years, four months and fifteen days and pay a fine of Rs.10,000 each in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month for the offence punishable under Section 14A(a) (b) of the Foreigners Act. The substantial sentences shall run concurrently," the court said in its order pronounced under Section 235(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The court granted the benefit of set-off under Section 428 of the CrPC for the period of detention already undergone by the accused from September 1, 2023, to January 5, 2026. The case arose from a raid conducted by the SSC of the Pune crime branch in Budhwar Peth, a congested area known for commercial establishments....