MUMBAI: A couple of years ago, Juleka Shaikh and Bilkis Akthar risked everything to cross the border, only to end up living in the shadows in Mumbai. With little hope of earning a livelihood in Jessore, Bangladesh, the two women found work as domestic help in the city – while constantly dodging the law – until their luck ran out in January. They are currently in the Byculla jail, awaiting trial.
Incredibly, it was their second such stint in Mumbai, a city that has always rewarded the tenacious and offered refuge to those fighting to survive. But Juleka and Bilkis, whose shared circumstances forged their friendship, are on the wrong side of the border – and the law.
They are among hundreds of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants hunted down by the Mumbai Police for deportation. And, yet, they are not among the 1,061 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants rounded up by the Mumbai Police in 2025.
In an action condemned by human rights groups but authorised by the Union government, immigrants are regularly being detained in special drives by the police, and handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF), to be “pushed back” across India’s eastern border.
While those arrested, like Juleka and Bilkis, have to undergo due process, a lengthy procedure involving a court trial and a prison sentence of up to two years, the 1,061 unauthorised immigrants are fast-tracked for deportation. “Pushing them” back immigrants is swift, involves minimal paperwork and met with little resistance as the immigrants would rather be sent back – many later return – than arrested and await trial.
The number of illegal Bangladeshis sent back in 2025 was the highest ever in a single year – over six times more than in 2024. The number has shot up since May last year, when the Indian government launched Operation Sindoor after the attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists at Pahalgam, in Kashmir, a month earlier.
After the attack, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a circular, allowing local authorities to “push back” illegal immigrants into Bangladesh with the help of the Border Security Force (BSF). Without explicitly saying it, it allows local police to round up and detain illegal immigrants, before they are handed over to the BSF.
“In a coordinated crackdown since last year, 1,058 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were sent back from Mumbai. They joined others similarly rounded up in other Indian states, and are sent back across the border in West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. Three of them had entered India on valid visas but overstayed and were therefore deported,” said a senior police officer.
“We formed special teams to identify illegal Bangladeshi nationals residing in Mumbai and picked them up,” said the officer. “We check their identity documents like their national identity cards issued in Bangladesh, and use technology to identify and track them down. For instance, instant messaging platform “IMO”, widely used in Bangladesh, has given the police their biggest breaks, he said.
“We also follow the money trail – bank transactions to send money to family members back in Bangladesh. Those who are illegal are deported with the help of the BSF,” said the officer.
Risking everything
Every undocumented immigrant who chooses the challenging journey across the border puts their life at risk, especially women. The route itself is challenging, passing through thickly forested terrain. While they wait in filthy transit camps, these immigrants are provided fake identification documents by their handlers. They pay between ₹8,000 and ₹20,000 to agents for the border crossing, and another ₹2,000 for bogus Indian identity documents.
Most of these illegal immigrants end up as unskilled labour at construction sites in Indian cities, especially Mumbai, while the women find work as house help or engage in petty jobs at construction sites,” said Reevansiddh Thengle, police inspector with the Trombay police. Thengle was part of the special branch of the Mumbai police that rounded up around 175 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants across Mumbai. He says most of them live in slums in the eastern suburbs or at construction sites.
For some women, the journey to Mumbai takes a dark turn. A few weeks ago, a 26-year-old illegal Bangladeshi immigrant was arrested by the Pydhonie police after she was found to be engaged in the sex trade. Originally from Dhaka, she was forced to work as a commercial sex worker in Grant Road by her handlers.
She told the police that after her husband died, she had no money. “An agent promised me a better life in India. I believed him as I had seen the flashy lifestyle of Bollywood stars and people in Mumbai through social media,” the woman told the police.
“She packed a change of clothes in a polythene bag and left for the border. After crossing on foot, she landed in West Bengal, where she was provided bogus identity documents. The agent, instead of providing her work, brought her to Mumbai and forced her into the sex trade,” said an officer from the Pydhonie police station. “After four months, she was arrested after someone tipped off the police.”
In contrast, Juleka Shaikh and Bilkis Akthar had done two stints in Mumbai. They worked as domestic help for two and a half years before they were “pushed back” in August 2025. The pull of survival brought them back, only to be arrested in January, said a police officer.
The two women have been booked under the Foreigners Act, 1946, Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950, and Foreigners Order, 1948, said the officer. “They will be tried for illegally entering the country and deported after completion of a possible prison term,” he said.
Human rights violation
Activists and lawyers say the “push back” order is a human rights violation as it does not allow for due process and judicial oversight. “Such sweeping actions, especially those involving families with children, sidestep critical legal safeguards, including the right to a fair hearing, protections under the Foreigners Act, and India’s obligations under international human rights law, says advocate Sunil Pandey, who represents several Bangladeshi immigrants.
Weeding out illegal immigrants remains a challenge for local authorities. “We have little choice but to keep conducting sweeps across the city – at construction sites, in slums in the eastern suburbs, and in certain pockets of south Mumbai. We keep a close watch,” said a police officer. “It’s an ongoing exercise, unless the porous border is plugged.”