Overview

• Khairul Islam, declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016, was detained on May 23 in Morigaon and forced across the border into Bangladesh on May 27 despite a pending Supreme Court appeal granted in December 2024.
• He spent up to three days stranded in a no-man’s land paddy field and under Bangladesh Border Guard custody before Assam police released him to his family on June 5.
• Islam alleges he was beaten at the Matia detention centre when he refused to board the bus bound for the international border.
• Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has confirmed state-led push-back operations and asserted that those with appeals pending in high courts or the Supreme Court will not be troubled.
• Islam’s ordeal underscores ongoing tensions between Assam’s deportation drive and judicial oversight as human rights concerns intensify.