GUWAHATI: A woman, said to be mentally-challenged, continued to remain stranded on an islet along the Tripura-Bangladesh border as India refused to grant entry to her.
Official sources said the middle-aged woman was intercepted by the Border Security Force (BSF) on April 2 when she was being pushed into the Indian side by some Bangladeshis with the help of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).
As she remained stranded in the open since then, some Bangladeshi nationals were taking care of her basic needs. Over the past few days, the BSF and the BGB held a series of meetings at various levels but those failed to break the ice.
South Tripura District Magistrate (DM) Debapriya Bardhan said the woman was not carrying any papers that established she was an Indian.
“Not only she speaks with a Bangladeshi accent, the places that she knows are all in Bangladesh. The BSF and the BGB are holding meetings almost every day. But so far, there is no breakthrough,” the DM told this newspaper.
He said it was still not verified if the woman was mentally-challenged. The BSF said there was no change in the status of the case.
“It will be wrong to say that she is holed up at no man’s land or zero point. Zero point is an imaginary line. The boundary is demarcated by pillars. She is on the other side. As far as we are concerned, she is sitting on the Bangladeshi side near a river,” a senior BSF official said.
He added: “We got nothing in her that establishes she is from our side. Some words that she uttered during a discussion with a journalist the other day indicated her relationship with Bangladesh.”