New Delhi: The 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were stuck in ‘zero line’ beyond the barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura since Friday, were perhaps pushed back to India by Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) after they had crossed over to Bangladeshi territory, the BSF has told ministry of home affairs.
Pictures available with CNN-News18 show that the Border Security Force (BSF) pitched tents along the zero line beyond the fencing in Tripura to help the Rohingya, after they had spent two nights in the open.
"Two photocopies of the UNHCR refugee card were found with this group. They did not reveal to us in their preliminary interrogation how they had reached the zero line," a BSF official said.
The BSF believes that this group, which includes minors and babies, travelled from Rohingya camps in Jammu to Tripura, stayed on for some days before trying to cross over to Bangladesh where their extended families live. "Initial assessment suggests the group had split up and crossed via forested areas to Bangladesh where they were caught by BGB and pushed back," an officer said on the condition of anonymity.
The BSF had on Tuesday handed over all 31 of them to the Tripura police, ending a standoff with its counterpart, the BGB, on the issue.
The group will now be tried for violations of the Indian passport act.
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