Khairul Islam, a former school teacher from Assam, India, who was found near the Bangladesh border in Kurigram after allegedly being forced across by Indian police.

However, Islam has returned to his home in Morigaon district, India. His family confirmed that he reached safely on Thursday evening.

Islam, 51, was reportedly taken from his home in Assam on the night of 23 May by India’s border police. 

On 27 May, he was seen in a video posted by a Bangladeshi journalist standing in a field near the Kurigram border. He said the Indian police tied his hands and dropped him near Bangladesh early that morning.

“I told the Assam police that I am a teacher and they should respect me,” Islam told the journalist in the video. “But they treated me like a thief and made me sit in the bus.”

Islam had been working as a government school teacher until December. However, in 2016, he was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in Assam. That decision was later upheld by the Gauhati High Court in 2018. He was kept in Assam’s Matia Detention Centre for two years before being released on bail in 2020. His case is now awaiting hearing in the Indian Supreme Court.

Speaking to Indian news outlet Scroll after returning home, Islam said he was first taken to the office of the Superintendent of Police, then sent to the detention camp. A few days later, he was taken by India’s Border Security Force and left at the no-man’s land between India and Bangladesh.

“I spent two days there. We didn’t sleep. We couldn’t tell if it was day or night,” he said. “Then the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) brought us to their camp. A few days later, the BGB took seven of us to the border and handed us to the Indian police.”

Islam claimed he was beaten inside the Matia camp when he refused to board the bus that took him to the border. “I said, why should I go to Bangladesh? I’m an Indian citizen,” he said.

After he was taken, Islam’s family submitted documents to the police in Assam, showing proof of his Indian nationality. His wife, Rita Khanam, said they had been told he would return within a few days.

Now back home on the occasion of Eid, Islam said he hopes no other Indian citizen faces such an experience. “We are not Bangladeshi, we are Indians,” he said. “We have all the papers. This is injustice. One day, there will be justice.”

He added in emotion, “The Almighty is watching. He will give justice.”

MSK/