A family from Assam, whose citizenship case is being heard in the Supreme Court, has alleged that one of their members, Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old former government school teacher, was picked up from their home in the state’s Morigaon district and “pushed” into Bangladesh by security forces.
The family said it got to know of this at 11 am on May 27 through a video uploaded on social media by a Bangladeshi journalist, purportedly showing Khairul Islam in Bangladesh’s Kurigram district, near the Boraibari border.
spoke to Islam’s wife, Rita Khanam, and daughter, Afreen, both of whom said he is the person in the video.
His lawyer Avijit Roy said Islam had been declared a foreigner by a Foreigners Tribunal in 2016, and that his appeal against the order is being heard in the Supreme Court.
The Indian Express sent detailed queries on the video and the allegations made in it to the BSF Frontier and the Assam Police. No response was received.
While the BSF did not comment on the Islam matter, in a statement Tuesday it said it had “thwarted an infiltration attempt by a large group of Bangladeshi nationals”.
“In the early hours of May 27, vigilant BSF troops deployed at the Indo-Bangladesh International Border in district South Salmara-Mankachar, Assam, observed suspicious movement of Bangladesh nationals approaching towards the International Boundary from the Bangladesh side with the intention to cross into Indian territory. Acting swiftly, BSF troops challenged them to prevent their unauthorised entry into Indian territory. The Bangladeshi mob subsequently retreated back into Bangladesh,” it said.
On Wednesday, a delegation of 11 AIUDF leaders submitted a memorandum to Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya against “inhuman treatment through pushbacks”. One of them, Mankachar MLA Aminul Islam, spoke about the alleged “pushback” of 14 people, including Islam.
“Fourteen people were deported across the border from my constituency, Mankachar. But they were kept in the no-man’s land because the Bangladesh forces are not ready to accept them, and neither is the BSF ready to accept them. This is completely inhuman treatment going on there. One of them is Khairul Islam, whose review petition is pending, and the matter is sub judice. No one can be sent there like this… The issue must be discussed amicably with Bangladesh. There are many more people being picked up by the police in the state. This is politics of fear,” he alleged.
In the video, Islam is purportedly seen standing in a field and introducing himself as a primary school teacher from Khanda Pukhuri village in Morigaon.
He can be heard alleging that on May 23, he was taken by police from his home to the Matia transit camp – the dedicated detention centre to house “illegal foreigners” in Assam – and that on Monday, he was put into a bus with his hands tied.
“At around 4 am this morning, 14 of us were pushed across the border to here,” he can be heard alleging in the video.
Islam was among nine people from the Morigaon district detained by the local police on May 23. Police had stated that all nine had been declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals in the state.
“The police came to our house late on May 23, after 11 pm. They told us that he was being taken for some reports. After that, we only got the news that he had been taken to the Matia detention camp. But we didn’t know what exactly was happening. And today, we saw the video of him from Bangladesh,” his wife claimed.
Islam had been declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016. He appealed against this order in the Gauhati High Court, which upheld the tribunal order in 2018, after which he was placed under detention for two years in the Tezpur Central Jail. According to his family, he worked as a teacher at the Thengsali Khandapukhuri Lower Primary School, a government school in his village, but was not re-engaged by the school after his detention.
After the High Court dismissed his case, Islam and three of his siblings, who had also been declared foreigners, petitioned the Supreme Court against the orders through a Special Leave Petition filed in 2018. In the meantime, he was released on bail in 2020 following a general Supreme Court order with directions to release on bail those individuals who had been in detention for over two years.
While disposing of an interlocutory appeal connected to the case on October 18, 2023, a Supreme Court bench, headed by then Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, had issued an interim direction “to the effect that no coercive steps shall be taken against them,” while referring to Islam’s three siblings, who the authorities had not detained.
Referring to Islam, the court had noted that, “Counsel for the petitioner submits that the first petitioner has already been released from the detention centre after two years following the general direction of this Court.”
In the last hearing of the case on December 17, 2024, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale ordered that it be tagged with “SLP (C) No. 4239 and connected cases”.
“Leave granted. Hearing expedited. Original record from the stage of Tribunal be summoned. Interim order(s) granted earlier to continue,” the order stated.
Their case is now part of several similar citizenship matters, which have been tagged together and will be heard by the court in due course of time.
The video of Islam coincided with tensions on the Indo-Bangladesh Border along Assam’s Mankachar and Bangladesh’s Kurigram district between the BSF and the Border Guard Bangladesh.
Media in Bangladesh quoted the Border Guard Bangladesh as saying that an attempt to push 14 individuals into Bangladesh through the border there had been “thwarted”.
