BSF hands over 31 Rohingya Muslims to Tripura Police

Agartala, Jan 22 (IANS) The BSF on Tuesday handed over 31 Rohingya Muslims who were stranded along the India-Bangladesh border since January 18 to the Tripura Police, officials said.

"Their fate will be decided by the appropriate authority in Delhi," a Border Security Force (BSF) official told IANS.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Ajay Das said that with the permission of the court here, the 31 people would now be under judicial custody.

"We have registered a case against them under the Passport Act. The children among them would be lodged in a juvenile home," Das told IANS.

The 31, including nine women and 16 children, had been stranded at Zero Line on the India-Bangladesh border with western Tripura.

Inconclusive meetings between the BSF and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) were held but the latter refused to take them.

Deputy Inspector General of BSF Brajesh Kumar said the BSF had provided food, clothes and other basic necessities to the refugees.

The Bangladeshi media earlier quoted BGB officials as alleging that the BSF was pushing Rohingyas into Bangladesh. The BSF has rejected the charge.

Meanwhile, 30 more Rohingyas were caught along the Tripura-Assam border on Monday night.

North Tripura Distrct Superintendent of Police Bhanupada Chakraborty told IANS that they were arrested by the Assam Police from a Guwahati-bound bus at Churaibari.

An official said that in the past one year, 62 Rohingya Muslims had entered Tripura illegally. Tripura shares a 856-km border with Bangladesh.