Shillong, June 11: A Bangladeshi national stranded for several hours in no-man’s land along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya after a dispute over his nationality triggered a standoff between the border forces of the two countries was handed over to his relatives on Thursday after his identity was verified, officials said.
The incident took place in the Nandirchar sector near Mahendraganj in South West Garo Hills district, where personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were involved in a face-off over the identity and nationality of the individual.
Videos of the confrontation had gone viral on social media. PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
According to BSF officials, the man was identified as Sati Rajbanshi, son of Late Baghbatta and a resident of Chalna village under Narayanpur post office and Gudagari police station in Bangladesh’s Rajshahi district.
He was allegedly intercepted while attempting to cross into Indian territory without valid documents.
However, when BSF personnel sought to return him to Bangladesh, BGB officials allegedly refused to accept him, resulting in a prolonged impasse and leaving him stranded in no-man’s land along the border from Wednesday.
A commander-level flag meeting between the BSF and BGB failed to resolve the issue initially, following which the man remained in no-man’s land throughout the night, officials said.
The episode triggered conflicting claims from the two sides.
While Bangladeshi authorities reportedly questioned the individual’s identity and nationality, BSF officials alleged that BGB personnel had themselves picked up the man from his village in Rajshahi and attempted to push him into Indian territory.
Rejecting reports that the individual was disabled, BSF officials termed the claim “totally false”.
“The narrative claimed by the Bangladesh counterpart was totally false,”a BSF official said.
According to the BSF, personnel remained on high alert after noticing what they described as an attempt by Bangladeshi authorities to push the man across the border and prevented him from entering Indian territory.
“He was caught by BGB and Bangladesh officials who tried to push him into Indian territory. He was caught from his village,” the official said.
The BSF maintained that Rajbanshi is a Bangladeshi citizen and that all standard procedures were followed after he was intercepted near the border.
The issue was resolved on Thursday morning after Rajbanshi’s relatives arrived with documents establishing his identity, bringing the standoff to an end.
“With this, the standoff was called off, and the situation is normal,” the BSF official said.
The incident comes amid heightened focus on illegal migration along India’s eastern frontier.
Authorities in several northeastern states have stepped up efforts to identify and deport undocumented foreign nationals residing illegally in the country. (PTI)
