BSF personnel patrol along the India- Bangladesh border fence in the Nischinta Pur area near Agartala on July 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
In a first, the Border Security Force (BSF) is writing to the authorities to cancel the Aadhaar cards of suspected Bangladeshi nationals who are apprehended along the eastern border while entering or leaving the country, officials said.
After a suspect is apprehended, the border guarding force informs the police and also writes to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to deactivate the Aadhaar registration of the undocumented migrants, a BSF official said.
‘Breaking a nexus’
A senior BSF official said that in May this year, they apprehended a Bangladeshi national who had been living in Chennai for nine years. “He was caught while trying to leave the country. We found an Aadhaar card on him. After informing the police, we wrote to the UIDAI to deactivate the card. This is being done to break the nexus of human traffickers and touts,” said the official.
There are instances when suspected undocumented migrants are apprehended in the border areas and they are already in possession of identity documents, including Aadhaar.
On September 11, an affidavit filed by the Union Home Ministry in the Jharkhand High Court stated that “BSF is approaching the concerned civil authorities for cancellation of Aadhar card, PAN card, driving licence, voter card, etc., in respect of apprehended Bangladeshi nationals and some of the Aadhaar cards have been cancelled by UIDAI.”
The official added that to avoid long legal cases, they have also been pushing back undocumented migrants in coordination with Border Guards Bangladesh. “Registering a police case involves a long-drawn process. Even if convicted and after completion of jail sentence, the country may never accept the illegal migrants. If there are women and children, we convince the BGB to take them back without registering any case here,” said the official.
The official added that the measures are in place since March-April this year, before political changes were witnessed in the neighbouring country on August 5 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down and escaped to India.
From 2018 to 2023, around 18,000 Bangladeshi nationals were intercepted by the BSF along the eastern border while 3,732 individuals were caught in 2023. Till July 31 this year, 1,973 Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended along the border.
Based on the recommendations of a committee under Home Ministry, the UIDAI has been maintaining since 2022 a “negative list” to stop illegal migrants from procuring the identity document in future, a Ministry affidavit said.
The committee chaired by the Registrar General of India (RGI) to deliberate on the functions of the UIDAI recommended that a mechanism be developed to capture the biometric and demographic details of identified undocumented migrants as per UIDAI standards so that it can serve as a negative list for non-issuance of Aadhaar by UIDAI in future.
The Home Ministry asked UIDAI, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of External Affairs, and National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to ensure that collection of biometrics is standardised. The UIDAI has created a portal for law enforcement agencies to record details of suspected cases involving illegally obtained Aadhaar cards. The portal has the details of deactivation of such cards after a field enquiry by UIDAI and compilation of a negative list to ensure cards are not reissued in future to such individuals.
Published – September 29, 2024 12:02 am IST