Khairul Islam was kept in Assam’s Matia Detention Centre for two years before being released on bail in 2020. His case is now awaiting a hearing in the Supreme Court
NEW DELHI – As part of the Assam government’s crackdown on alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Khairul Islam, a former government school teacher, was allegedly forced out of Indian territory along the Bangladesh border in Kurigram by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on May 23.
Islam was found near the border by the Bangladeshi guards and was again forced to cross the border into India. According to media reports, he has now returned to his home in Morigaon district of the state. His family confirmed that he had reached home safely a couple of days before Eid-Al-Adha on June 7.
Crackdown on “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh is not new in India – the countries are divided by a 4,096 km (2,545 miles) long porous border, which can make it relatively easy to cross over, even though many of the sensitive areas are heavily guarded.
But it is still rare, lawyers working on these cases say, for people to be picked up from their homes abruptly and forced into another country without due process. These efforts seem to have intensified over the past few weeks.
On May 27, Islam was seen in a video posted by a Bangladeshi journalist standing in a field near the Kurigram border. He said the Indian police tied his hands and dropped him near Bangladesh early that morning.
“I told the Assam police that I am a teacher and they should respect me,” Islam told the journalist in the video. “But they treated me like a thief and made me sit in the bus.”
Islam worked as a government school teacher until December. However, in 2016, he was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in Assam. That decision was later upheld by the Gauhati High Court in 2018. He was kept in Assam’s Matia Detention Centre for two years before being released on bail in 2020. His case is now awaiting a hearing in the Supreme Court.
Speaking to news outlet Scroll.in after returning home, Islam said he was first taken to the office of the Superintendent of Police, then sent to the detention camp. A few days later, he was taken by BSF and left at the no-man’s land between India and Bangladesh.
“I spent two days there. We didn’t sleep. We couldn’t tell if it was day or night,” he said. “Then the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) brought us to their camp. A few days later, the BGB took seven of us to the border and handed us over to the Indian police.”
Islam claimed he was beaten inside the Matia camp when he refused to board the bus that took him to the border. “I said, why should I go to Bangladesh? I’m an Indian citizen,” he said.
After he was taken by the BSF, Islam’s family submitted documents to the police in Assam, showing proof of his Indian nationality. His wife, Rita Khanam, said they had been told he would return within a few days.
Now back home, Islam said he hopes no other Indian citizen faces such an experience. “We are not Bangladeshi, we are Indians,” he said. “We have all the papers. This is an injustice. One day, there will be justice.”
He added in emotion, “The Almighty is watching. He will give justice.”
