Two Bengali-origin Muslim women from Assam who were reportedly forced into the no man’s land between India and Bangladesh by the Border Security Force (BSF) have returned to their homes, Scroll reported on Sunday.
Earlier, many media reports had highlighted how several individuals, pushed across the border into Bangladesh during a crackdown on alleged “illegal immigrants,” claimed to be Indian citizens with close family ties in Assam.
Shona Bhanu and Rahima Begum were among hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims who were detained and pushed towards the international border as part of the state’s intensified effort to identify and deport so-called illegal immigrants. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had openly admitted that the state had been “pushing back” individuals declared foreigners by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals.
According to a report, Rahima Begum was picked up from Golaghat district by police and taken to the Bangladesh border. She was told to cross over before officials realized there had been a mistake in her case and brought her back. Her lawyer confirmed that a Foreigners Tribunal had ruled her family entered India before March 25, 1971 — the cutoff date for citizenship in Assam under the Assam Accord.
Shona Bhanu, 59, a resident of Barpeta district, was reportedly dropped off on a highway around 11 p.m. on Saturday — 120 km away from her home — according to her brother, Ashraf Ali, who spoke to Scroll.
Foreigners Tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that determine citizenship in cases where individuals are accused of being “illegal immigrants.” Human rights groups have often criticized their opaque procedures, which have resulted in thousands of people — mostly from Bengali-speaking Muslim communities — being declared foreigners.
In 2024, the Assam government issued an order instructing the border wing of the Assam Police not to refer non-Muslim cases to these tribunals, raising serious concerns about religious discrimination. This prompted the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to express formal concerns about the alleged targeting of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam.
Previously, media houses reported cases like that of Khairul Islam, a schoolteacher, and Abdul Latif, a 60-year-old daily wage earner, both from Assam. Despite reporting regularly to police as per their bail conditions, they claim their deportation is illegal as they still have pending legal proceedings in the tribunals.
Latif’s daughter, Sonjona Begum, explained that her family was declared foreign in 2011 simply because they missed the tribunal hearing due to confusion over which proceeding to attend. This confusion stemmed from contradictory directions given by the border police.
Leader of the Opposition in Assam, Debabrata Saikia, has strongly criticized the state government’s actions. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Saikia alleged that the recent “push back” operations are not only unconstitutional but also specifically target Muslim communities — threatening the secular principles of the Indian Constitution.
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has also filed a petition with the Governor, condemning the ongoing harassment of Indian Muslims under the guise of tracking “illegal immigrants.”
Saikia further revealed that since May 23, hundreds of Indian citizens — many not even involved in citizenship-related disputes — have been arbitrarily detained. Though some have been released, these incidents expose serious flaws in due process.
