'I used to be pushed throughout the border into Bangladesh at gunpoint'

[ad_1] Arunoday Mukharji BBC Information

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6d9d/live/d48985c0-404c-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Pritam Roy/BBC A woman wearing an orange saree looks into the camera " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Pritam Roy/BBC Shona Banu was allegedly picked up by the police final month and despatched to Bangladesh; she was despatched again to India 4 days later

Shona Banu nonetheless shudders when she thinks of the previous few days.

The 58-year-old, a resident of Barpeta district in India's north-eastern state of Assam, says that she was referred to as to the native police station on 25 Could and later taken to a degree on the border with neighbouring Bangladesh. From there, she says, she and round 13 different individuals have been pressured to cross over to Bangladesh.

She says she was not advised why. However it was a situation she had been dreading - Ms Banu says she has lived in Assam all her life however for the previous few years, she has been desperately attempting to show that she is an Indian citizen and never an "unlawful immigrant" from Bangladesh.

"They pushed me over at gunpoint. I spent two days with out meals or water in the course of a subject in knee-deep water teeming with mosquitoes and leeches," Ms Banu stated, wiping away tears. After these two days in no man's land - between India and Bangladesh - she says she was taken to what seemed to be an outdated jail on the Bangladeshi facet.

After two days there, she and some others - she shouldn't be positive if all of them have been from the identical group despatched along with her - have been escorted by Bangladeshi officers throughout the border, the place Indian officers allegedly met them and despatched them dwelling.

It isn't clear why Ms Banu was abruptly despatched to Bangladesh after which introduced again. However her case is amongst a spate of latest situations the place officers in Assam have rounded up individuals declared foreigners by tribunals up to now - on suspicion of being "unlawful Bangladeshis" - and despatched them throughout the border. The BBC discovered a minimum of six circumstances the place individuals stated their members of the family had been picked up, taken to frame cities and simply "pushed throughout".

Officers from India's Border Safety Pressure, the Assam police and the state authorities didn't reply to questions from the BBC.

Crackdowns on alleged unlawful immigrants from Bangladesh should not new in India - the international locations are divided by a 4,096km (2,545 miles) lengthy porous border which might make it comparatively straightforward to cross over, regardless that most of the delicate areas are closely guarded.

However it's nonetheless uncommon, legal professionals engaged on these circumstances say, for individuals to be picked up from their houses abruptly and compelled into one other nation with out due course of. These efforts appear to have intensified over the previous few weeks.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6be2/live/1cdc6270-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Alahi Sgagria Nazim/BBC People standing in a field across a blue net with trees in the background and a bright blue sky " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Alahi Sgagria Nazim/BBC The no-man's land between India and Bangladesh - Ms Banu says she spent two days in the course of a subject right here

The Indian authorities has not formally stated how many individuals have been despatched throughout within the newest train. However high sources within the Bangladesh administration declare that India "illegally pushed in" greater than 1,200 individuals into the nation in Could alone, not simply from Assam but in addition different states. Out of this, they stated on situation of anonymity, Bangladesh recognized 100 individuals as Indian residents and despatched them again.

In an announcement, the Border Guard Bangladesh stated it had elevated patrolling alongside the border to curb these makes an attempt.

India has not commented on these allegations.

Whereas media experiences point out that the latest crackdown consists of Rohingya Muslims residing in different states too, the scenario is especially tense and sophisticated in Assam, the place problems with citizenship and ethnic id have lengthy dominated politics.

The state, which shares a virtually 300km-long border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh, has seen waves of migration from the neighbouring nation as individuals moved seeking alternatives or fled non secular persecution.

This has sparked the anxieties of Assamese individuals, lots of whom concern that is bringing in demographic change and taking away assets from locals.

The Bharatiya Janata Celebration - in energy in Assam and nationally - has repeatedly promised to finish the issue of unlawful immigration, making the state's Nationwide Register of Residents (NRC) a precedence in recent times.

The register is an inventory of people that can show they got here to Assam by 24 March 1971, the day earlier than neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan. The checklist went via a number of iterations, with individuals whose names have been lacking given possibilities to show their Indian citizenship by exhibiting official paperwork to quasi-judicial boards referred to as Foreigners Tribunals.

After a chaotic course of, the ultimate draft printed in 2019 excluded almost two million residents of Assam - lots of them have been put in detention camps whereas others have appealed in greater courts in opposition to their exclusion.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/176f/live/9cbf1910-411a-11f0-9bff-bddeaa14bb06.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Alahi Sgagria Nazim/BBC Maleka Khatun has temporarily been given shelter by a family in Bangladesh but says she doesn't know anyone there" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Alahi Sgagria Nazim/BBC Maleka Khatun has quickly been given shelter by a household in Bangladesh however says she would not know anybody there

Ms Banu stated her case is pending within the Supreme Court docket however that authorities nonetheless pressured her to go away.

The BBC heard comparable tales from a minimum of six others in Assam - all Muslims - who say their members of the family have been despatched to Bangladesh across the identical time as Ms Banu, regardless of having vital paperwork and residing in India for generations. At the very least 4 of them have now come again dwelling, with no solutions nonetheless about why they have been picked up.

A 3rd of Assam's 32 million residents are Muslims and plenty of of them are descendants of immigrants who settled there throughout British rule.

Maleka Khatun, a 67-year-old from Assam's Barpeta who continues to be in Bangladesh, says she has quickly been given shelter by a neighborhood household.

"I've no-one right here," she laments. Her household has managed to talk to her however do not know if and when she will return. She misplaced her case within the foreigners' tribunal and within the state's excessive courtroom and hadn't appealed within the Supreme Court docket.

Days after the latest spherical of motion started, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cited a February Supreme Court docket course which ordered the federal government to start out deportation proceedings for individuals who had been "declared foreigners" however have been nonetheless held in detention centres.

"The people who find themselves declared foreigners however have not even appealed in courtroom, we're pushing them again," Sarma stated. He additionally claimed that individuals with pending courtroom appeals weren't being "troubled".

However Abdur Razzaque Bhuyan, a lawyer engaged on many citizenship circumstances in Assam, alleged that in most of the latest situations, due course of - which might, amongst different issues, require India and Bangladesh to cooperate on the motion - was not adopted.

"What is occurring is a wilful and deliberate misinterpretation of the courtroom order," he stated.

Mr Bhuyan just lately filed a petition on behalf of a scholar organisation looking for the Supreme Court docket's intervention in stopping what they stated was a "forceful and unlawful pushback coverage" however was requested to first method the Assam excessive courtroom.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f2d7/live/3953d460-404d-11f0-95b4-19782fc5d14e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Aamir Peerzada/BBC A woman shows papers placed on a red table, she is wearing a pale yellow Indian suit with a scarf in matching colours. A man is standing behind wearing a green shirt. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Aamir Peerzada/BBC Sanjima Begum with official paperwork that she claims show her father's id

In Morigaon, round 167km from Barpeta, Rita Khatun sat close to a desk which had a pile of papers on it.

Her husband Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old college instructor, was in the identical group as Ms Banu that was allegedly picked up by authorities.

A tribunal had declared him a foreigner in 2016, after which he spent two years in a detention centre earlier than being launched. Like Ms Banu, his case can be being heard within the Supreme Court docket.

"Each doc is proof that my husband is Indian," Ms Khatun stated, leafing via what she stated was Mr Islam's highschool commencement certificates and a few land data. "However that wasn't sufficient to show his nationality to authorities."

She says her husband, his father and grandfather have been all born in India.

However on 23 Could, she says that policemen arrived at their dwelling and took Mr Islam away with none rationalization.

It was just a few days later - when a viral video surfaced of a Bangladeshi journalist interviewing Mr Islam in no man's land - that the household learnt the place he was.

Like Ms Banu, Mr Islam has now been despatched again to India.

Whereas his household confirmed his return, the police advised the BBC they'd "no info" about his arrival.

Sanjima Begum says she is certain her father was declared a foreigner on account of a case of mistaken id - he was additionally taken on the identical evening as Mr Islam.

"My father's identify is Abdul Latif, my grandfather was Abdul Subhan. The discover that got here [years ago, from the foreigners' tribunal] stated Abdul Latif, son of Shukur Ali. That is not my grandfather, I do not even know him," Ms Begum stated, including that she had all the mandatory paperwork to show her father's citizenship.