January 23, 2019:

On Tuesday, the BSF handed over the 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were stranded on the India-Bangladesh border for four days, to Tripura Police.

The 31 Rohingyas, who apparently came from Jammu & Kashmir, had been stuck in no-man’s land, beyond the barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura since Jan 18.

The situation had led to a blame game between the Border Security Force (BSF) and its counterpart - Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) - with the two sides accusing each other of pushing them into their territories.

The decision to hand over the Rohingyas to the Tripura Police was taken after the BSF and the BGB failed to reach a decision during talks on the issue.

The 31 Rohingyas underwent a medical check-up and were later produced before a court in West Tripura district which sent them to 14-day judicial custody, the officials said.

Deputy Inspector General of the BSF Brijesh Kumar said, “We took the matter up with the BGB and requested them to take the Rohingyas back to Bangladesh. They denied. Several rounds of talks with the BGB had failed. So, we handed them over to police.”

A battalion commander-level meeting was held at the Zero Line on Sunday, the officials said.

Officials in New Delhi said the BSF informed the Home Ministry about the final result of the talks and gave it the situation report.

After receiving the ministry’s nod, the BSF signed the papers and handed over the 31 Rohingyas to the staff of the Amtoli police station in West Tripura district police at 11 am, ending the standoff with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

The officials added that the state police will verify the details of the Rohingyas, and the BSF has been asked to render assistance for the task.

It is suspected that these people had traveled to the border area from Jammu & Kashmir, the officials said, adding that the truth can only be established after an investigation.

Pranab Sengupta, officer-in-charge of the Amtali police station, told PTI that the 31 Rohingyas, including nine women and 16 children, were sent to the Tripura Medical College for a check-up and “were found to be alright”.

He said the BSF had been providing them food, water and other essentials.

While the BGB claimed they had come from India, the BSF said they had not as there was no tell-tale sign of breach of the barbed wire fence on the Indian side.

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