Nine members of a Bangladeshi Hindu family managed to enter Tripura recently after trekking restlessly through dense forests at night. But they were caught by Indian security personnel at Ambasa railway station in Dhalai district.
The arrested three men and six women are from Dhanpur village in Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh.
During preliminary inquiries, the family claimed that they were forced to cross the border due to increasing atrocities against the minority Hindu community in the neighboring country after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government in August.
‘We are from Bangladesh. Faced with atrocities we came to India saying we cannot live there (Bangladesh) anymore… I used to work as a driver in Dhanpur in Kishoreganj district… People tried to beat me up… Our women are not safe there… I will not go back. Even though I am in jail, I am from India,’ Shankarchandra Sarkar, one of the arrested Bangladeshis, told reporters.
When asked how he crossed the border, he said, ‘We had to walk all night under the cover of darkness and forest. We finally managed to cross into India through the Srimangal region of Bangladesh. We started from Friday and reached Tripura on Saturday.
He said that he planned to reach Ambasa railway station from Kamalpur and board the train to Silchar in Assam.
“We will not go back. We will not return to Bangladesh under any circumstances. We have sold as much as we can before coming here… We cannot get justice there, we are attacked, we are unsafe in Bangladesh,” Sarkar added.
He also claimed that thousands of Hindus like him were thinking of fleeing to India amid the instability in Bangladesh, but due to various reasons, many of them could not muster the courage.
“It is not a small thing to leave your home and belongings and come to another country. Father also walked in the forest. He is a senior citizen and may die,” the government said.
Meanwhile, Government Railway Police Ambasa station in-charge Pintu Das said the group would be produced before a local court soon.
Since the fall of the Hasina government, sources have informed that more than 500 Bangladeshi citizens and 63 Rohingya people have been arrested in various parts of Tripura in the last four months.
Tripura shares an 856 km long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced due to local disputes.