Guwahati, Oct 3 (PTI) Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday wrote to External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, seeking his intervention in tracing and bringing back two women from Nagaon district who were allegedly “illegally pushed back” across the India-Bangladesh border in mid-June.
The letter, which was made available to the media on Saturday, was written ahead of the October 6 by-election to the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.
In the letter written on Friday, Gogoi claimed that the pushback violated due legal process and the whereabouts of the two women remain unknown till date.
He requested the Union minister to contact the authorities in the neighbouring country to arrange for tracing the two women and facilitate their safe return.
The two women— Jahanara Begum of Bagariguri and Mumtaz Begum of Dhing Gaon—were sent across the border on the intervening night of June 13/14 this year, and no information about them has been available since then, the Deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
The Gauhati High Court has already made the Ministry of External Affairs a party in this matter, so “we seek your (Jaishankar’s) personal and urgent intervention in the case,” the Jorhat MP said.
Outlining the background of the incident, Gogoi said that the Foreigners Tribunal at Nagaon had declared both women foreigners in 2019.
They subsequently challenged the tribunal’s ruling before the Gauhati High Court, which in April 2026 set aside the earlier order and remanded both matters to it for fresh consideration because material evidence had not been properly examined.
In accordance with the high court’s directions, Jahanara Begum appeared before the tribunal on May 29 and Mumtaz Begum the next day, but both were taken into custody and were deprived of the opportunity to obtain a fresh order from the tribunal to challenge it before the high court, Gogoi said.
The Gauhati High Court observed on September 3 that the state had effectively prevented Mumtaz Begum from exhausting her legal right to approach it, with similar findings recorded in Jahanara Begum’s case as well.
The court also scrutinised the expulsion orders issued by the Nagaon District Commissioner on June 2, which directed the women to leave India within 24 hours while they were already in state custody.
Gogoi claimed that both women were handed over to the Border Security Force and pushed back across the border through Gate No. 2 near Border Pillar No. 1339/MP.
Gogoi urged the External Affairs Ministry to immediately take up the matter with the Government of Bangladesh to help in tracing both women, direct the High Commission of India in Dhaka and the Assistant High Commission of India in Sylhet to pursue the matter with relevant authorities to facilitate their return.
The Congress leader claimed that the two families in Nagaon have been desperately searching for them for months now and ”individuals cannot simply disappear after being taken into state custody and pushed across an international border”. PTI DG NN
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