Satkhira Correspondent

An Indian woman named Shahida Fakir, who was abducted from Mumbai, India and forcibly pushed to Bangladesh, has taken refuge in Bhadiyali village of Sonabaria union in Kalaroa upazila of Satkhira in an extremely helpless condition.

She is currently staying at the house of a local couple, Abul Bashar and Arifa. Shahida Fakir is a permanent resident of Gobindpur village of Basirhat subdivision of North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. Her father's name is Mohammad Aminuddin Gazi.

The victim, Shahida Fakir, said that she had been living in Mumbai with her family for about 20 years. On the night of the 18th or 19th of this month, 4-5 people posing as CID arrested her on her way back from a local market in Mumbai. At that time, her mobile phone was taken away and even when she wanted to show the necessary Indian documents, she was refused to see them. She was directly taken to the Chembur detention camp without being allowed to communicate and was detained for four days. Even when her relatives took her identity cards and documents, they were not accepted. Later, she was taken to the Assam border by plane and forcibly pushed to the Bangladesh border.

After crossing the border, the group got separated and Shahida reached Benapole area in a physically ill condition. Shahida said that her two children, aged 23 and 14, are in India. Her husband had come to Basirhat from Mumbai a month before the incident. The woman pleaded to return to her children and her country immediately.

The sheltering housewife Arifa Begum said that her husband Abul Bashar, while returning from India, found Shahida in Benapole, dirty, covered in mud and crying in physical pain. Seeing her physically abused and helpless, she was brought home on humanitarian grounds and has been sheltered for the past five days. Yesterday, journalists from Dhaka came to inquire and said that they would take steps to bring her back to the country through government and legal processes.

Iqbal Hossain, UP member of Ward No. 1 of Sonabaria Union, said that the incident is true, a woman from India has come to shelter in Bhadiyali village. She did not enter through the local border, she was pushed back through the distant border of India.

Sonabaria Union Acting Chairman Nazma Begum and Kalaroa Police Station OC HM Shahin said that inquiries are being made into the matter.