Indian border forces push own citizens into Bangladesh
Bangladesh says Indian forces expelled confirmed Indian citizens, as rights groups warn India increasingly mislabels its own people as “Bangladeshi”
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Indian border forces have pushed at least nine confirmed Indian citizens, including women, into Bangladesh, Bangladeshi border authorities said, after escorting the group across a fenced frontier under cover of darkness along the two countries’ northeastern border.
Bangladesh’s border force, Border Guard Bangladesh, said the group crossed into Bangladeshi territory late Tuesday night through a remote section of the frontier opposite India’s Assam state. The individuals were later intercepted inside Bangladesh while travelling along local roads near border villages and markets.
After initial checks, Bangladeshi authorities confirmed that all nine were Indian nationals and returned them to India through the same border route. A senior Bangladeshi border commander said the matter would be raised with India through established communication channels.
One of the detained individuals, Shahar Ali, an Assam resident, told Bangladeshi officials that the group had been held at a detention facility in India before being taken to the border and forced across by India’s Border Security Force. The group included three women, he said.
While Bangladeshi officials stopped short of commenting on India’s internal identification process, the incident adds to a growing number of cases reported this year in which Indian citizens have been expelled into Bangladesh after being labelled “illegal Bangladeshi migrants.”
Analysts note that language, religion, and regional origin have increasingly shaped how suspected “foreigners” are identified in parts of eastern and northeastern India, leaving Indian nationals — particularly from Bengali-speaking Muslim communities — vulnerable to detention or cross-border expulsions despite holding citizenship.
Bangladesh has consistently said it will not accept individuals who are not its citizens, urging India to resolve nationality disputes through legal procedures rather than informal expulsions across a densely populated and highly sensitive border.
India and Bangladesh share a frontier stretching more than 4,000 kilometers, cutting through villages, farmland, and riverine terrain. While both countries cooperate on border security, incidents involving mistaken identity risk straining bilateral relations and raising serious humanitarian concerns.
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