Indian MP asks minister to help trace two Assam women sent to Bangladesh
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has asked India’s external affairs minister to help locate and return two Assam women who were sent across the Bangladesh border after legal challenges to their classification as foreigners. He said their families had been unable to establish their whereabouts.
Indian Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has urged External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to help trace and bring back two women from Assam who were sent across the border into Bangladesh. Gogoi identified the women as Jahanara Begum of Bagariguri village and Mumtaz Begum of Dhing Gaon, both in Nagaon district.
He said their whereabouts had been unknown since they were sent across the border on the night of June 13 and 14. The women had been declared foreigners by a Foreigners’ Tribunal in Nagaon in 2019. They challenged those decisions before the Gauhati High Court, which ordered the tribunal to reconsider their cases after finding that relevant evidence had not been properly considered.
According to Gogoi’s letter, both women appeared before the tribunal on May 29 and 30 before being taken into custody. He said neither was given an effective opportunity to obtain the fresh tribunal opinion and challenge it before the High Court. The High Court later found that the tribunal had delayed issuing a certified copy of Mumtaz Begum’s opinion and said state machinery had prevented her from exhausting her legal remedy.
The court recorded similar findings in Jahanara Begum’s case. Gogoi said both women were handed to the Border Security Force and sent across the border through Gate No. 2 near Border Pillar No.
1339/MP. He asked the External Affairs Ministry to involve India’s missions in Dhaka and Sylhet, seek consular assistance and facilitate their return, subject to the necessary formalities. He also asked that the women’s families receive updates.
The source material does not state whether the ministry or Bangladeshi authorities have responded.
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