May 26, 2025
DHAKA – A total of 172 Bangladeshi nationals were pushed into Bangladesh from India through the borders in Meherpur, Sylhet, and Moulvibazar between Saturday night and yesterday, according to police and BGB.
In Meherpur, 19 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, were pushed through the Sonapur Majhpara border in Mujibnagar upazila early yesterday, said police.
After crossing the border, the group took shelter near the BRTC counter at Kedar Ganj Bazar in Mujibnagar, said Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mujibnagar Police Station.
On information, police took them into custody, the OC said, adding that members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) from the Mujibnagar camp also reached the scene, the OC added.
Among those detained are nine children, five women, and five men.
According to their statements, the group had entered India illegally at different times in search of work and had been living in the Indian state of Haryana.
About a week ago, they were detained by Indian authorities from various locations in Haryana and subsequently jailed in Berhampore, located in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.
They were later pushed across the border during the early hours yesterday, the OC said.
The police are in the process of taking the necessary legal steps in this regard.
In Sylhet and Moulvibazar, a total of 153 Bangladeshi citizens were detained by the BGB between Saturday night and yesterday morning after they were pushed into Bangladesh from India by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
The detainees include 49 men, 53 women, and 51 children of 27 families. Almost all of them are from Kurigram and have been working in India for years, confirmed Lt Col Mehedi Hasan, commanding officer of BGB-52 (Beanibazar) Battalion.
“After Saturday’s push in through the Kanaighat border, we increased our vigilance in the border. However, the BSF managed to push in 153 people through five points in the border between 2:00am to 8:30am,” he said.
Of them, 32 people were detained along the border in Sylhet’s Beanibazar upazila, while 121 others were held in Moulvibazar’s Barlekha upazila.
The official said BGB patrol teams were vigilant, but some areas of the border are either hilly or marshlands, making it difficult to monitor.
“The BSF switched off the security lights they installed in their part of the border and pushed in these people. After we detained them, we confirmed their nationalities as Bangladeshi and, considering the humanitarian ground, detained and later handed them to the police,” he said.
Lt Col Mehedi further said, “The detainees said that they were working at different brick fields or stone quarries in Gujrat for years, and Indian police detained them as illegal immigrants. They were gathered near the Sylhet border on May 4. Since then, the BSF has been trying to push them in through different borders.”
“Though BSF officially refuses involvement, we have called a company commander-level meeting to protest such activities,” he said.
On Saturday, 21 Bangladeshi were detained in Sylhet’s Kanaighat border after being pushed in from India.
Earlier on May 14, some 16 Bangladeshis were similarly pushed back through the same border and later handed over to their relatives after police confirmed their identities.
According to BGB headquarters, 664 individuals were pushed in by India through borders in Khagrachhari, Kurigram, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Cumilla, Feni, and Jhenidah districts since May 7, along with 78 others pushed in through remote forest areas in the Sundarban’s Mandarbaria area.
This takes the total up to 742.
[Our correspondents from Benapole and Sylhet contributed to this report.]