Police in Chapainawabganj have detained six Indian nationals, including women and children, who were allegedly forced into Bangladesh by Indian authorities. The arrests were made Wednesday afternoon during a raid in the Alinagar Bhutpukur area of Sadar upazila based on intelligence reports, police said.
The detainees, all from Murarai police station’s Dhitara village in Birbhum district of West Bengal, have been identified as Danesh Sheikh (28), his son Sabbir Sheikh (8), Sonali Khatun (26), Sweety Bibi (33), Kurban Sheikh (16) and Imam Dewan (6).
According to police, the group had worked at a brick kiln in Delhi. On 20 June, they were picked up by Indian police, who later labelled them as Bangladeshi nationals and pushed them into Bangladesh through the Kurigram border on 26 June. Before being expelled, they were flown from Haryana to Assam and then taken by road to the border, where India’s Border Security Force (BSF) abandoned them in a forested area.
After crossing rivers and jungle routes, they reached Kurigram and eventually rented a house in Chapainawabganj.
The detainees told reporters that they are Indian citizens by birth and had shown Indian authorities proof of their identity, including Aadhaar cards, ration cards, PAN cards and land documents.
Despite this, Indian police ignored their claims and pushed them into Bangladesh. They appealed to be repatriated to their homeland, saying they were living in “a miserable and stateless condition.”
One of the detainees, Sonali Khatun, said her young daughter Afrin remains with her grandmother in Birbhum. Another, Sweety Bibi, said she was detained while trying to secure the release of her son Kurban from a Delhi police station. Both were later expelled into Bangladesh along with their children.
Relatives of the detainees have reportedly filed a case in a Kolkata court over the forced push-in. Law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh said they had received a copy of the case documents.
Chapainawabganj Superintendent of Police Rezaul Karim said the six are now in police custody. “We have requested the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to arrange a flag meeting with the BSF. If the issue is settled through the meeting, they will be handed over. Otherwise, legal action will be taken,” he said.