31 Rohingyas stranded at India-Bangladesh border handed over to Tripura Police

Rohingya migrants being offloaded from a police truck at a tripura police station. Source: Indian Express

As we had mentioned in our earlier report, 31 Rohingyas were stranded at the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura after both sides refused to accept them. Bangladesh claimed that the Rohingyas crossed over from India while the BSF maintained that there’s no breach on the Indian side.

Now, as per latest reports, the Rohingyas have been handed over to Tripura Police. The Rohingyas had been stuck at the Border since the 18th of January. They were handed over to Tripura Police after the BSF failed to reach a decision during talks with their Bangladeshi counterparts, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).

The 31 Rohingyas were produced before a court in West Tripura district after a medical check-up. The court sent them to a 14-day judicial custody.

Deputy Inspector General of the BSF Brijesh Kumar said on Tuesday, “We took up the matter with the BGB but they refused to take them back. As the matter could not be sorted out though talks, we apprehended them and handed them over to police.”

The BGB continued to maintain that the BSF wanted to push the Rohingyas into Bangladesh. BGB commander in Bangladesh’s eastern Brahmanbaria region Lt Colonel Golam Kabir told PTI that “BSF wanted to push them into our territory but eventually, they took them back”.

Lt Colonel Kabir stated further, “They (Indians officials) tried to convince us that the Rohingyas entered into India from Bangladesh which we refused to accept as these people were carrying Indian refugee cards.”

As per Indian Express, preliminary interrogations revealed that some of the Rohingyas had come from Jammu and Kashmir. The Police, however, hasn’t confirmed it due to lack of evidence. “Some of them have verbally admitted having come from Jammu and Kashmir. However, we haven’t obtained any UNHCR refugee cards which are usually issued to Rohingyas living there”, Amtali SDPO Ajay Kumar Das said.

As we had reported earlier, another group of 30 Rohingyas were arrested by the Police at the Assam-Tripura Border which claimed to have come from Jammu and Kashmir in search of employment but were caught in their journey back to Guwahati.

The decision to hand over the Rohingyas to the Tripura Police was taken after obtaining approval from the Home Ministry.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia