Deportation sans law: Indian citizens forcibly expelled to Bangladesh – Part 1
First part of the five-part series examining the forcible expulsion of Indian citizens to Bangladesh based on unverified suspicions of illegal migration, conducted without due process
South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre
3 February 2026
BORDER detentions and forcible expulsions, commonly referred to as “pushbacks,” are not isolated incidents but form part of a systematic pattern across Eastern India. Reports from Assam, West Bengal, and adjoining border districts document pushbacks occurring at multiple crossing points, including Barpeta, Karimganj, Cooch Behar, Malda, Nadia, and Dhubri.
These border areas have long-standing demographic, linguistic and familial ties with communities across the border in Bangladesh. The populations targeted for expulsion are overwhelmingly drawn from poor, Bengali-speaking Muslim and Adivasi communities who face structural disadvantages, limited access to legal representation, and low levels of documentary literacy.
A critical legal anomaly compounds the problem with the Border Security Force (BSF), the primary agency conducting these pushbacks, has no statutory authority to determine citizenship or nationality status. Under Indian law, citizenship determination falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of civil authorities, Foreigners Tribunals, and appellate bodies established under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The absence of due process, judicial oversight, and nationality verification prior to expulsion transforms what should be a legal determination into an arbitrary executive action by a border force operating outside its lawful mandate.
Recent reporting by The Indian Express in January 2026 documented additional cases in which families from Odisha and West Bengal were subjected to summary expulsion despite possessing land records and multiple forms of citizenship-linked documentation. In several instances, Bangladeshi authorities declined to accept the expelled individuals, citing lack of verification or mismatched paperwork, leaving them stranded across the border. These cases illuminate the complex cross-border family networks that characterize the region, the administrative uncertainty surrounding expulsions and the severe humanitarian consequences of a pushback regime operating without procedural safeguards.
Forcible expulsion of a pregnant woman
In September 2025, Scroll.in reported the case of a pregnant woman from West Bengal who was forcibly taken across the border into Bangladesh by BSF personnel on suspicion that she was an “illegal Bangladeshi migrant.” Her family, who had lived in the region for at least five generations and possessed land records, ration cards, Aadhaar cards, and other documentation establishing Indian citizenship, stated that she had never resided in Bangladesh.
According to eyewitness accounts, BSF personnel entered the village, detained the woman without a warrant, and transported her, along with several others, across the international border in a truck. She was not presented before a magistrate, not informed of any grounds for arrest, and not given an opportunity to challenge the expulsion. Her family only discovered her whereabouts after relatives in Bangladesh located her; they were told by local authorities there that she had been “pushed back” by India.