Gogoi urges Jaishankar to trace two Assam women sent across Bangladesh border

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi has sought External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s intervention to trace and facilitate the return of two women from Nagaon district who were allegedly pushed across the India-Bangladesh border in June without following due legal procedure.

In a letter sent on Friday and released to the media on Saturday, Gogoi urged Jaishankar to coordinate with the Bangladeshi authorities to locate the women and ensure their safe return. The appeal comes ahead of the October 6 by-election to the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.

Gogoi claimed that Jahanara Begum of Bagariguri and Mumtaz Begum of Dhing Gaon were allegedly sent across the border during the intervening night of June 13 and 14. Their whereabouts have remained unknown since, he said, The New Indian Express reported.

The Congress leader pointed out that the Gauhati High Court had already made the Ministry of External Affairs a party to the case and therefore sought Jaishankar’s personal and urgent intervention.

According to Gogoi, the Nagaon Foreigners Tribunal had declared both women foreigners in 2019. They subsequently challenged the tribunal’s decisions before the Gauhati High Court, which in April 2026 set aside the orders and sent the cases back to the tribunal for fresh consideration. The court had found that relevant material evidence had not been properly examined while deciding the cases.

Following the High Court’s directions, Jahanara appeared before the tribunal on May 29, while Mumtaz appeared the following day. However, both women were taken into custody, which, according to Gogoi, prevented them from seeking fresh orders from the tribunal and subsequently challenging those orders before the High Court.

The Gauhati High Court observed on September 3 that the state had effectively denied Mumtaz the opportunity to exhaust her legal remedy by approaching the court. Gogoi said the court had made similar observations while dealing with Jahanara’s case.

The court also examined expulsion orders issued by the Nagaon District Commissioner on June 2, directing the two women to leave India within 24 hours despite the fact that they were already in state custody.

Gogoi alleged that the women were later handed over to the Border Security Force and pushed across the international border through Gate No. 2 near Border Pillar No. 1339/MP.

He urged the Ministry of External Affairs to immediately raise the matter with the Bangladesh government. He also called on the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and the Assistant High Commission in Sylhet to take up the issue with the concerned authorities and facilitate the women’s return.

Gogoi said the families of both women had been searching for them for months and stressed that people taken into state custody could not simply disappear after being moved across an international border.