In May crackdown on 'foreigners', only Bengali-origin Muslims sent to Assam detention centre

On May 24, the Matia detention centre began to fill up as the Assam police launched a drive to round up alleged illegal immigrants in the state. Over the next few days, reports appeared of Bengali-origin Muslims held at the centre being taken to India’s border with Bangladesh and being forced to cross over at gunpoint.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the Assembly that 303 “foreigners” had been pushed into Bangladesh. But he did not disclose their identities.

Scroll filed a Right to Information query with the office of the Inspector-General of Prisons, Assam, asking for information on the number of detainees at the Matia centre, details of their cases, and when they were admitted inside. We also asked for detailed information on those who had been released, deported or “pushed” into Bangladesh since April 2025.

The Assam government’s reply to our questions was incomplete. It did not share any information about those forced to cross the border into Bangladesh. However, it gave us a list of those detained at the Matia detention centre between May 27 and July 8.

All 53 of them are Muslims.

The RTI response

Most of those rounded up in that crackdown were declared foreigners like the 51-year-old teacher from Morigaon, Khairul Islam, who was...

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