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infiltrators” and forced nearly 5,000 people “to go back”.

“Indian authorities are cruelly dumping families into Bangladesh or leaving them stranded at the border, ignoring their basic human rights,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s deputy Asia director.

She urged India to stop unlawful expulsions, ensure procedural safeguards, verify citizenship with Bangladeshi authorities, and end what she described as “this dismaying animosity toward Muslims”.

HRW said it interviewed nine witnesses who saw BSF personnel bring groups to the border at night and push them through breaches in the barbed-wire fence into Bangladeshi territory. In several cases, they were later allowed to return after BGB refused entry.

Witnesses in Panchagarh described a 75-hour standoff after the BSF attempted to push 10 people, including children, into Bangladesh on June 5.

“The group had advanced about 50 feet into Bangladeshi territory,” said local Rubel Hossen. “Locals alerted the BGB, and after the forces arrived, the group retreated to an embankment in no man’s land.”

He said the group endured lightning and heavy rain on the first night and received limited food assistance from the BSF on the second day.

“What I witnessed appeared to be a war-like standoff with large deployments of BSF and BGB,” Rubel told HRW. “Repeated flag meetings between the two forces failed, until the BSF finally escorted the group back to the Indian side.”

HRW cited other recent incidents, including an alleged attempt on June 6 to push six members of two Bengali Muslim families -- three men, two women and a child -- through the Tetulbaria border.

According to the rights group, they were stranded overnight after BGB blocked their entry and BSF personnel allegedly prevented them from returning.

On June 8, BGB said the BSF took back 11 people, including a pregnant woman and her child, after they had remained stranded for nearly 48 hours at the zero line in Thakurgaon.

HRW also said a controversial voter list revision ahead of the West Bengal elections removed more than nine million names, fuelling fears of detention and deportation.

It noted that a citizenship verification process in Assam in 2019 left more than 1.9 million people stateless, while thousands of Bangla-speaking residents have since been detained and some have been unlawfully expelled.

The rights group noted that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has repeatedly described Bangla-speaking Muslims as “illegal immigrants” and recently said, “We take them to a convenient location near the border, and literally push them across the border….”

Hasibur Islam, a union parishad member in Panchagarh Sadar, said he met a family from Siliguri in West Bengal who possessed Aadhaar cards, India’s biometric identity document.

The family told him police detained them after their names were removed from voter rolls and later handed them over to border security personnel who attempted to push them into Bangladesh. They were eventually allowed to return to India after spending three days stranded at the border.

HRW said Indian authorities maintain that many Bangladeshis are living in India illegally and have offered assistance for voluntary return. While voluntary repatriation can comply with international human rights standards, the organisation said authorities should neither coerce people into leaving nor forcibly expel them.

The group also cited allegations that some people were stripped of identity documents, money and personal belongings before being removed.

According to HRW, authorities in West Bengal have arbitrarily detained hundreds of alleged irregular Bangladeshi migrants in holding centres. An Indian activist told the rights group that around 400 people are being held in facilities near the border, many after being excluded from voter rolls.

Bangladesh has repeatedly said it will not accept people pushed across the border outside legal channels and that any return must follow established verification and repatriation procedures.

HRW said India is obligated under international human rights law to protect individuals from discrimination and arbitrary deprivation of citizenship. It warned that detention and expulsion without due process violate fundamental rights, while leaving people without food, water, shelter or medical care could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The organisation called on India to ensure access to legal representation, inform people of the grounds for deportation and allow appeals against expulsion decisions. It also said expelling or stranding children violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects their right to nationality and freedom from arbitrary detention.

“India should end these brutal expulsions, and both governments should ensure that border management never again comes at the cost of basic human dignity,” said Meenakshi Ganguly.