Fourteen Rohingya people, who had boarded a train in southern Assam’s Badarpur after allegedly entering India illegally, have been arrested in northern West Bengal.
A spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) headquartered in Guwahati said some passengers of a special Rajdhani Express had called a helpline on November 24 to report about unruly co-passengers.
The call was made after the New Delhi-bound train from Tripura capital Agartala left the Alipurduar railway station in West Bengal. Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police officials boarded the train at the next stop, New Japlaiguri, to check out the complaint.
Interrogation revealed that the 14, including eight women, had boarded the train at Badarpur and were travelling on tickets generated in the names of other people. They had allegedly turned aggressive after the train superintendent found their identity proofs did not match the details in the tickets.
“They confessed to having entered India illegally after fleeing a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. A case was registered against them under Section 14A of the Foreigners (Amendment) Act. They were produced before a magistrate in New Jalpaiguri and sent to judicial custody,” the NFR spokesperson said.
