On 7th December ten members of a Hindu family from Bangladesh recently made it into Tripura by trekking through deep woods without taking a moment to rest in the middle of the night. However, Indian security forces apprehended them at the Ambassa Railway Station in the Dhalai area. The anti-Hindu violence and tensions in the neighbouring countries caused them to evacuate their hamlet and enter India to protect their lives. They are from Dhanpur village in the Kishorganj district of Bangladesh.
The family included three women (mother-in-law and her daughters-in-law) along with three minors, two boys, a girl, and an elderly person. They were caught while trying to board a train to Silchar in southern Assam. The family reportedly stated during the preliminary interrogation that they were forced to cross the border because of the growing atrocities committed against the minority Hindu community in the neighbouring country after the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina collapsed in August.
“After trekking the forested hills of an arduous route overnight, we entered India on Saturday through Kamalpur (in Tripura’s Dhalai district). We were trying to go to Silchar in Assam to stay in a rented house. We would never return to Bangladesh under any circumstances. The situation in Bangladesh is very grim. Attacks on the lives and properties of Hindus have become an everyday affair,” Shankar Chandra Sarkar one of the arrested Bangladeshi Hindus expressed.
“We had to take cover of the darkness and jungles and walk throughout the night. We eventually managed to cross into India through the Srimangal area of Bangladesh. We started on Friday and reached Tripura on Saturday,” he further narrated their hectic journey to India. According to him, they travelled from Kamalpur to the Ambassa railway station, where they intended to catch a train to Silchar, Assam.
He added, “We have come from Bangladesh. We came to India because we can’t stay there (Bangladesh) anymore in the face of atrocities. I worked as a driver at Dhanpur in Kishorganj district. People tried to assault me. Our women are not safe there. I shall not go back from India even if I am jailed,” he voiced their terrible ordeal.
“We will not go back. We will not go back to Bangladesh at any cost. We have sold whatever we could before coming here. We can’t get justice there, we are assaulted, we are unsafe in Bangladesh,” the victim of Islamist attacks reiterated. He pointed out that they had to abandon many of their properties and household goods as well as assets.
Sarkar mentioned that hundreds of Hindus, like himself, are considering escaping to India because of the unrest in Bangladesh, but many have not dared to do so for several reasons. “It is not a petty matter to leave behind your house, and belongings, and come to another country. My father also walked through the jungle. He is a senior citizen and could have died,” he highlighted their miserable situation.
“During the Awami League government headed by then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we were happy and there was no enmity between the Hindus and Muslims in our areas. But after the caretaker government headed by Muhammad Yunus assumed office, we were continuously harassed and threatened,” he conveyed underlining the unbridled assaults on minorities especially against Hindus and their temples, religious institutions as well as properties.
Meanwhile, on 8th December, seven members of the Hindu family were placed in 14 days of judicial custody by a local court in the Dhalai district of Tripura for breaking the Indian Passport Act by entering the country illegally. Seven adult members of the family have been sent to Chailengta subdivisional jail while the three underage children were sent to Narsingarh juvenile home in Agartala.
Sudhir Sarkar (70) the patriarch of the family, expects to become an Indian citizen through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which makes it possible for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who arrived in India before the 31st December 2014, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians to be granted Indian nationality. “Nobody wants to leave his or her birthplace and fights to stay back till the end. But if a situation has arisen where a Hindu family from Bangladesh is forced to seek refuge in India, the Indian administration should deal with it sympathetically,” he told the media before going to jail.
Recounting his horrific experience at home, he stated that since deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, his sons, Shankar and Adhir, had been subjected to atrocities by anti-Hasina groups. Their livelihoods were stolen, women were prohibited from leaving the house and their children were prevented from attending school. “Our Muslim neighbours, with whom our families lived peacefully for generations, became our sworn enemies overnight. They would torture us, not allow us to go to the market. They simply wanted us to die either by suicide or starvation. We had no option but to leave our country,” he disclosed.
According to him, they fled their house with a few possessions before the sun came up on 6th December and arrived in Sri Mangal town (on the Bangladeshi side) in the evening. They succeeded in reaching the international border, but they had to wait to avoid being caught by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh’s Border Guard. The whole family spent the night in the jungle between Ambassa and Kamalpur and took an autorickshaw to get to the train station, the next morning where they were arrested.
