The case of a mentally imbalanced person, later identified as a Bangladeshi resident, crossing into the Indian side of the border near Mahendraganj, West Garo Hills is one of many such instances. This incident, which led to a war of words between the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) exposes the fluid nature of the detection process. When a person caught crossing the border from Bangladesh toward India claims to be an Indian citizen but lacks documents to prove his citizenship, the situation becomes tricky. Thankfully, in this case, the man’s relatives came to his rescue and produced documents proving he is a Bangladeshi citizen.
Usually, if a person caught crossing the border from Bangladesh claims to be an Indian citizen but has no documents to prove it, the authorities generally follow a legal process rather than immediately accepting or rejecting the claim. The person is usually detained by the Border Security Force, state police, or immigration authorities for questioning. The individual will be asked about his/her place of birth, family, residence, language, and other details. Verification of the person’s identity would include verifying the claim through local authorities, village records, electoral rolls, school certificates, land records, or testimony from relatives and community members. However, the task becomes challenging in situations where documents are usually unavailable, especially for poor, rural villagers. But the absence of documents does not automatically prove that a person is a foreigner, although it can make the verification process more difficult. As per Indian law the burden of proving citizenship often falls on the person claiming to be an Indian citizen. If authorities suspect the person is a foreign national, proceedings may be initiated under the relevant immigration and citizenship laws. If family members can prove the person is an Indian citizen the person cannot be deported merely on the plea that he/she lacks documents. The accepted practice is that the authorities may rely on other evidence or records to establish the individual’s citizenship.
If it is proven that the person who tried to cross over is indeed a Bangladeshi national, he/she will be held in a detention camp before deportation. This requires several processes, including Bangladeshi authorities accepting that the person under detention is a citizen of Bangladesh. Often, establishing the nationality of a person who crosses over is difficult, and such cases drag on for a long time since both countries are unwilling to accept that person without proper credentials. In Assam, however, the adopted process is different as special mechanisms for identifying illegal migrants, such as foreigners’ tribunals and other citizenship verification procedures, have been in existence. Along the Indo-Bangladesh border on the Meghalaya frontier, there are large unfenced stretches where people cross at will. In fact even trucks carrying vegetables and other grocery items such as sugar regularly cross over from the Indian side of the border to the Bangladesh side at Balat and Ranikor. There are individuals who cross over from the Bangladesh side, work as house help in Indian homes and return in the evening. These are the realities at the border which the Union Home Ministry has unfortunately not taken seriously.
