Google Alert – বাংলাদেশ
A 65-year-old woman from Assam, allegedly pushed into Bangladesh by Indian border forces, has been placed under judicial custody in Dhaka after being found in Mirpur of the capital.
Sakina Begum, a resident of Nalbari district in Assam, went missing on May 25 after local police reportedly summoned her to sign documents.
Her family lost contact with her and later discovered she had been pushed across the border.
A Bangladeshi resident named Zakia, who lived in Mirpur, said they found her crying outside a shop and sheltered her for several weeks.
“She could not communicate in Bangla, speaking only Assamese, and repeatedly mentioned her home district, Nalbari. We found her around a week before the last Eid al-Azha in June 2025. Her leg was bleeding, and her health condition was not normal, so we took her into our house in a humanitarian ground and kept her with us,” Zakia told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday night.
“After certain days, when we discovered that she came from India, we tried to communicate with the local law enforcement agencies, but they refused to help us as this is a transboundary matter,” said Zakia.
Recently, the BBC made a story on her, and later that story went viral. “The police came to our house and picked up Sakina on Thursday.”
“Now we don’t know exactly where she is. We have heard that she is in jail now, but we do not have more details on Sakina. Her family is trying to communicate with us, but we do not have exact updates,” said Zakia, who sheltered Sakina for around four months in their house.
What happened with Sakina?
According to a media report, police in Assam escorted Sakina near the border fence at night, opened a gate, and ordered her to leave quietly.
She was expelled all of a sudden and eventually boarded a bus and ended up in Dhaka.
According to Sakina’s family member, the court documents in India show that Sakina had previously been declared a “foreigner” by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal, a decision upheld by the Guwahati High Court.
But the country from which she entered India was missing in the documents.
She was earlier held in a detention camp but was released on bail during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the condition of regular police check-ins.
Following her discovery in Dhaka, Bangladesh authorities have since transferred Sakina Begum to court, and now she is in judicial custody, and her case is pending for further investigation.
Sakina’s family in Assam claims that she is Indian and continues to demand her safe return.
When asked, Bhashantek police station Officer-in-Charge Shah Mohammad Faisal Ahmed, told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday evening that they have detained her and will send her to the court on Thursday.
“Now she is in judicial custody, and the court will decide her fate,” he added.
Rights activists believe that Sakina is among several people allegedly “pushed-in” by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) in recent months.