Video claiming 7 were ‘pushed in’ across Chuadanga border on Facebook, no trace of them found
A video circulating on Facebook has claimed that seven people were pushed into Bangladesh from India through the Jibannagar border in Chuadanga.
Although two men seen in the footage were spotted in the Narayanpur area of Jibannagar Upazila on Thursday morning, they could not be traced afterwards.
The incident has prompted differing accounts from local residents and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
A journalist from a private television channel recorded a video of the two men and uploaded it to Facebook at around 6:00 am on Thursday. The footage went viral.
According to the journalist who filmed the video, when asked about their identities, the two men said they were from a village in Dumuria Upazila of Khulna. They also claimed that five other people had been pushed across the border at the same time. However, no one has been able to confirm the whereabouts of the remaining five.
The video shows one man, about 35 years old, wearing jeans, a white printed shirt and trainers, alongside another man dressed in a red panjabi, black trousers and trainers, carrying a blue bag on his head. They were later seen leaving the area in a van.
The two men identified themselves as siblings. One identified himself as Aminur Rahman and the other as Khalilur Rahman. They said their father was Mohammad Ali Sana.
According to Aminur Rahman, between 4:00 am and 4:30 am on Thursday, the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly pushed a total of seven people, including the two brothers, across the border into Bangladesh through what he described as the Patowari border route.
However, they said they did not know where the other five people had gone. Aminur also claimed that they had not encountered any members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) after crossing the border.
Khalilur Rahman said the two brothers had travelled from Bangladesh to India about two and a half years ago and now intended to return to their village home.
Lieutenant Colonel Rafiqul Alam, Commanding Officer of the Maheshpur Battalion (58 BGB), told Prothom Alo that he had seen the video circulating on Facebook.
He said that, according to the two men's account, they had been pushed across through the Patwari border. However, there is no village named Patwari on the Indian side opposite the area under the jurisdiction of 58 BGB.
He added that the two men themselves could no longer be located.
Jibannagar police station Officer-in-Charge Solaiman said he had no information about the incident but that inquiries were underway.