India’s Border Security Force pushed seventeen more people, including women and children, into Bangladesh illegally through the Sapahar border in Naogaon district on early Friday.

The group, comprising six men, six women and five children, reportedly entered Bangladesh through the Chokchokir Beel area near border pillar No 237 in Kalmudanga border area after being forced across the border by BSF personnel on early Friday.

They later walked nearly seven kilometres through paddy fields before reaching Kalmudanga Chowmohoni market at dawn on Friday.

Local residents, after hearing their accounts, informed the Border Guard Bangladesh camp at Kalmudangam, and a BGB team subsequently reached the area and took the group towards the border in an apparent attempt to push them back.

However, BSF personnel reportedly arrived at the spot and prevented the pushback process, leading to a face-off between members of the two border forces, witnesses said.

As of Friday afternoon, BGB and BSF personnel were positioned on opposite sides of the border while the 17 people remained stranded in the zero line area awaiting a resolution.

Witnesses said that the group had been detained from different parts of India before being brought to the border and forced into Bangladesh.

Lieutenant colonel Mohammad Ariful Islam Masum, commanding officer of the 16 BGB, declined to comment when approached by journalists regarding the fate of the stranded individuals.