Over 700 Undocumented Bangladeshi Migrants in Delhi Sent Back in Last Six Months
The Wire Staff
New Delhi: In the last six months, around 700 undocumented migrants in Delhi have been sent back to Bangladesh as part of the Indian government’s “push back” strategy.
The process of sending back undocumented migrants accelerated after the Pahalgam terror attack last month.
At the aftermath of the attack, in a concerted capital-wide drive, the Delhi police identified 470 people as undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and another 50 as foreigners who have overstayed. Thereafter, they were air-lifted from Hindon air base to Agartala in Tripura, before being deported via the land border to Bangladesh, reported Indian Express.
Officials from the Delhi Police have said that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed them last year to undertake a verification exercise to identify and detain undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya.
An official told the newspaper that over the last one month, around 3-4 special flights went from the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad to Agartala to drop all undocumented migrants.
“Around five makeshift holding centres were built by Delhi Police; they were told to coordinate with the FRRO, and drop the illegal migrants in a special plane to Agartala airport and West Bengal,” said a source.
Many migrants detained from BJP-ruled states
Apart from Delhi, in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states including Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa, a number of undocumented migrants were detained and later handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) to be sent back.
While the Delhi Police handed over the highest number of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants, at least 120 detainees since January, it was followed by the state Police of Maharashtra (at least 110), Haryana (80), Rajasthan (70), Uttar Pradesh (65), Gujarat (65), and Goa (10), reported The Hindu.
An official told the newspaper that the BSF has sent back over 1,200 Bangladeshis from one of the sectors along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.
“These arrests were made while they were trying to enter India from the land border. They were pushed back in the following days on the orders of the MHA,” the official added.
Earlier this month, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said at a press conference on May 10 that that the government had decided to implement the “push back” mechanism to check infiltration instead of going by the legal route.
The Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh had earlier sent a letter to India on May 8 “raising concern over people being pushed into the country and urged New Delhi to adhere to established repatriation mechanisms”.
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