On 29 April, the border security forces arrested two Bangladeshi women from Jeetpur border post in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. In West Bengal, women illegally crossed the border to visit a relative undergoing treatment for blood cancer.
On May 1, four Bangladeshi fishermen who entered Indian waters while fishing in Padma river in Murshidabad district of the state were arrested by the BSF. In both the cases, the Border Security Force (BSF) handed over the people to the Border Guards Bangladesh. Almost every week there are incidents where people inadvertently cross the border.
Between January 2021 and March 2022, the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier has handed over 187 Bangladeshi nationals to the BGB. Of them, 135 people had crossed the border in 2021 and 52 between January and March 2022. Among those caught were 63 women, 27 children and the rest men.
“Not everyone who crosses the border is a criminal or a smuggler. There are many who cross the border unintentionally; This includes women and children and sometimes even the elderly. There are people who are eager to find the border or there are people visiting relatives. After interrogation our forces hand over these people to Border Guard Bangladesh personnel through flag meeting,” said SS Guleria, DIG and BSF South Bengal Frontier spokesperson.
According to a BSF official, anyone involved in smuggling of any substance or people is strictly dealt with, arrested and handed over to the local police. The normal communication from the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF is “humanity and goodwill” while handing over the citizens of the neighboring country.
However, there is much more to Bangladesh’s citizens than “humanity and goodwill” when handing them over to their border guarding forces. The BSF’s South Bengal Border, which has a jurisdiction of about 913 km in West Bengal, guards a more porous border along the entire Eastern Theater, from the Sundarbans in the south to Malda in the north. A major part of the range lies along the river banks and rivers flow along the borders. The number of people arrested for crossing the border illegally is also huge. In 2021, BSF’s South Bengal Frontier arrested 2036 Bangladeshi nationals for illegally crossing the border. The number of people who came from Bangladesh arrested since 2020 was 3060.
The state’s prisons are full of Bangladeshi nationals who have been arrested for crossing the border illegally. The Prison Statistics of India (PSI) report for the year 2020 shows that there are 4,926 foreigners lodged in state jails, of whom 1,982 (40%) are in jails in West Bengal. Most of these prisoners are undertrials and Bangladeshi nationals. The BSF’s move to allow people to return to Bangladesh saves law enforcement agencies from protracted trials of such people and prevents overcrowding in state prisons.