32 border points
2,479 people pushed into Bangladesh by BSF in 8 months
BGB has been strongly protesting, both verbally and in writing, to the BSF. Intelligence surveillance and patrol activities along the border have been intensified.
On 14 January, India’s border force, the Border Security Force (BSF), pushed 17 people into Bangladesh through the Gomastapur border in Chapainawabganj. They were detained by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). Among those detained were eight men, five women and four children.
Earlier on 25 December last year, 14 members of the same Hindi-speaking family from India’s Odisha state were labelled as ‘Bangladeshi’ and pushed into Bangladesh at night under cover of darkness through the Darshana border in Chuadanga by the BSF.
Not only in Gomastapur or Darshana, but between 7 May last year and 26 January this year—a period of eight months—the BSF pushed a total of 2,479 people into Bangladesh through border points in 32 districts across the country. Of them, 120 were identified by BGB as Indian nationals.
Following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024 in the face of a mass uprising, an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus assumed office on 8 August. Since then, without following due process, the BSF has been pushing people into Bangladesh through various border points.
Indians also being pushed in
On the night of 25 December 2025, 73-year-old Sheikh Abdur Jabbar, a Hindi-speaking resident of India’s Odisha state, along with 13 members of his family, was labelled as Bangladeshi and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh by the BSF through the Nimtala border at Darshana in Chuadanga by opening a barbed-wire pocket gate.
Among them were five women, five men and four children. Police and BGB personnel rescued them the following night from Darshana bus stand in Chuadanga amid severe cold and took them to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital.
Others among those pushed in included Jabbar’s sons Hakim Sheikh, 48, Sheikh Ukil, 45, Sheikh Bunty, 30), Sheikh Raja, 38, Jabbar’s wife Alakuni Bibi, 65, Sheikh Ukil’s wife Sagera Bibi, 36, and their daughter Shakila, 9, Sheikh Raja’s wife Mehrun Bibi, 28, and their daughter Nasrin, 10, son Rohit, 2, Touhid, 11, Hakim Sheikh’s wife Shamsheri Bibi, 34, and Sheikh Hossain’s wife Gulshan Bibi, 80.
Officer-in-charge Mehedi Hasan of Darshana police station said the individuals stated they were permanent residents of Odisha, India. Their documents proving Indian citizenship, including Aadhaar cards and ration cards, had been taken away.
Jabbar told police that about a month earlier, police had picked up all 14 members of his family late at night. They were held in Atgarh jail in India for 35 days. They were released on 25 December, and on the same night, BSF members pushed them into Bangladesh.
Mehedi Hasan said that after providing medical treatment to the 14-member family at the hospital, the matter was reported to the district administration. On the administration’s advice, BGB pushed the family back into India through the Darshana border a day later.
On 20 August, the BSF pushed a six-member family including pregnant Sonali Bibi, her husband and child from Dhitora village in Birbhum district of West Bengal into Bangladesh through the Chapainawabganj border.
After verifying proof of Indian citizenship, an Indian court ordered the government to bring Sonali Bibi and her family back. They were subsequently sent back through the Sonamasjid immigration check post in Chapainawabganj on 5 December. However, the BSF did not take back Sonali Bibi’s husband.
At the time, Golam Kibria, commanding officer of BGB’s Mahananda Battalion, told journalists that such inhumane push-in actions by the BSF constituted a clear violation of international human rights standards and bilateral border management agreements.
When asked about the overall situation, Md Mahbub Murshed Rahman, director (operations) at BGB Headquarters, told Prothom Alo that BGB has been strongly protesting both verbally and in writing against such push-ins carried out without due process. Flag meetings are being held at various levels.
The official added that BGB remains on maximum alert by increasing intelligence surveillance and patrol activities along the border, which has helped reduce the number of push-ins from India.