Mentally Challenged Woman Stuck between Tripura & Bangladesh amid Corona Crisis

Agartala, April 13, 2020:

Under the blazing sun she spends her days and sudden rains drench her in evenings and nights. Left in the cold and discarded by all, a middle-aged woman has been languishing at zero-point in Tripura for the last eight days. Bangladesh has disowned her, India has not accepted her. Stuck between the two countries, the mentally challenged woman lives on a sand bank in the middle of the Feni river in no-man’s land along the Indo-Bangla Border in Sabroom under South Tripura district.

She has been passing her days and nights under the sky, exposing herself to seasonal rains and storms. Both the BSF and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) are asking the woman to show proof of her nationality.

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But who will collect her? How will a mentally challenged woman will prove her nationality? These are some of the pertinent questions that are being raised as her sojourn along the border enters its second week. It can be argued that the fear of coronavirus and lockdown have only complicated the situation for her.

Meanwhile, BSF sources informed us on April 9 that they had talked to the lady and understood that the woman was acquainted with several places of Bangladesh and knew many persons living there. Reportedly, she was talking in a local dialect of Dhaka. BSF personnel said they are expecting a humanitarian gesture from Bangladesh side and want them to take the woman back.

Observing the shocking state of the woman and her plight, intellectuals of Sabroom are demanding intervention from the Governments of both India and Bangladesh to bring an end to agony of the woman. Litterateur Ashokananda Roy Barman and poet Sanjib Deb have both highlighted the issue through their respective social media accounts.

According to sources, the woman attempted to enter Tripura from the Bangladesh side on April 2, but BSF Jawans thwarted her from entering Tripura. However, as she tried to return to Bangladesh, people from Bangladesh side started pelting stones at her forcing to take refuge at a sand-bed at zero point in the middle of the River Feni.

DIG BSF CL Belwa confirmed the issue and told Inside Northeast, “One mentally challenged Bangladeshi lady is there at the border. She tried to enter India from three different spots. Some Bangladeshi nationals had spotted her and BGB troops reportedly  pushed her into India. The locals attacked her with wooden sticks. When our troops came to know about this, they stopped her and she is there in the Bangladesh side of the international boundary."

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Commandant level meetings were held between BSF and BGB on April 3 and April 7 last, but BGB clearly stated that the woman was not a Bangladeshi citizen, so they would not be able to take her back.

On April 7 and April 9, DIG of BSF, Jamal Ahmed went to Sabroom and inquired about the woman. Amidst coronavirus scare and reluctance of Bangladesh authority in taking her back, it remains to be seen how the situation will be resolved for this woman who is stuck at the frontier.

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