Rahima Begum (50), a resident of Golaghat district in Assam, became one of the many individuals recently detained in a sweeping crackdown on declared foreigners. What followed for her was a harrowing ordeal—allegedly taken to the Bangladesh border, told to cross over, and only brought back after authorities realized they had made a mistake.
Begum’s story is one among several that highlight the intense scrutiny underway in Assam. As per her lawyer, a Foreigners Tribunal (FT) had already ruled just last month that her family entered India before March 25, 1971—the cut-off date for citizenship under Assam’s special provisions.
Despite this, she was picked up. On Friday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, citing a Supreme Court order, confirmed that Assam is actively pushing declared foreigners across the international border into Bangladesh.
Begum, who finally returned to her home in 2 Padumoni village on Friday evening, claimed she was forced across the border on Tuesday night.
“Early Sunday morning, around 4 AM, police came to our house and told me to come to the police station for questioning,” she recalled. “After spending hours there, they took me to the Golaghat Superintendent of Police’s office with some others. I carried my documents with me, and they collected our fingerprints. By nightfall, we were put into vehicles and taken somewhere—but I had no idea where.”
Her husband, Malek Ali, said their two daughters witnessed her being taken away, but the family remained in the dark about her whereabouts for days.
Late Tuesday night, Begum said she and others were driven to a border area. “The security personnel handed us Bangladeshi currency, told us to cross over and never come back. The area was nothing but muddy paddy fields, water up to our knees. We wandered through the fields until we reached a village—but the locals there chased us away. Their border forces beat us and ordered us to return,” she said.
“We spent an entire day stuck in the fields, drinking muddy water because we couldn’t go either way,” she added. “By Thursday evening, Indian forces called us back, collected the Bangladeshi currency, and took us to Kokrajhar. I don’t know what happened to the rest, but I was brought back to Golaghat. I don’t understand why this happened—I have all my papers, and I fought my FT case for over two years.”
Her husband received a call on Friday afternoon to collect her from Golaghat town.
Meanwhile, officials from the BSF Guwahati Frontier and Golaghat SP Rajen Singh have remained silent, not responding to calls or messages.
Advocate Lipika Deb, who represented Begum in the Jorhat FT, said the family reached out to her on Sunday, reporting that she’d been taken along with others suspected of being foreigners.
According to Deb, the FT had categorized Begum as ‘post-stream’—a classification for those who entered India between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, and have since lived as ordinary residents in Assam. Under Section 6A(3) of the Citizenship Act, such individuals must register with the Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO) within 30 days. Though they’re barred from voting for 10 years, they enjoy all other rights of Indian citizens, and after that period, they’re deemed full citizens.
Deb said they discovered the issue after checking with police and FRRO officials in Jorhat. “There was a digit mismatch in her registration number. Once we notified the Superintendent of Police, she was brought back. But it’s disappointing—this mismatch could’ve been easily resolved if the authorities had simply cross-verified with the registration office,” she said.