Ranit Kr. Singh , Kolkata — A 30-year-old Bangladeshi national, Moktar Hossain, surrendered to Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans at the Panitanki border check post near Siliguri on Wednesday, desperately requesting repatriation. Dressed in a black shirt and denim, the Nawabganj resident walked across the Mechi Bridge from Nepal and openly confessed his illegal status at the border camp. Border officials immediately detained the youth and handed him over to the Kharibari police station due to his lack of valid travel documents. On Thursday, the Siliguri Subdistrict Court judge rejected his emotional plea for an immediate return home and instead remanded him to judicial custody.

Hossain’s precarious journey originally began on August 30, 2023, when he entered India through the Haridaspur border on a valid short-term visa to pursue employment in Kolkata. After his visa expired in September of that year, he spent months hiding in the crowds of the New Market area while working at a local shop. He was eventually duped by a fraudulent broker who promised him lucrative transit to Europe via Nepal but instead robbed him of all his savings in Kathmandu. Stranded and broke, Hossain took up low-wage work at a grill factory in Nepal while searching for a viable method to return home to his family.

His decision to cross back into India was triggered by political developments regarding illegal immigration filtering across the border. Prompted by a phone call from his mother, who had heard of announcements regarding the repatriation of undocumented immigrants, Hossain believed surrendering to Indian authorities would guarantee his direct passage back to Bangladesh. "The young man may have wanted to return home with a sincere heart, but it is not possible for us to do that as the law is a complicated matter," stated a local police officer involved in the case.