Archive · 24 Nov 2025
Bangladeshis Return Home Amid Electoral Roll Checks
In a village called Hakimpur in West Bengal, India, something unusual is happening.
For many years, people from Bangladesh came to this village to escape problems in their home country.
Now, some of these people are going back to Bangladesh.
The reason is that the Indian government is checking who lives in the area to make sure everyone has the right papers.
People who don't have these papers are choosing to leave before they are checked.
The villagers remember helping people who came to India a long time ago, and now they are helping those who are leaving.
It's like history is repeating itself, but in the opposite direction.
Illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Hakimpur, West Bengal, are returning to Bangladesh due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The village, known for sheltering refugees during the 1947 Partition and 1971 Liberation War, is now witnessing a reverse migration.
Migrants, mostly daily wage laborers, fear being caught without proper documents and are leaving voluntarily before verification teams arrive.
Villagers are providing food and water to the returning migrants, similar to how they helped refugees in the past.
Security personnel confirm an increase in reverse crossings since mid-November, with most migrants citing the SIR as the reason for their return.
- Who
- Illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in Hakimpur, West Bengal
- What
- Returning to Bangladesh due to electoral roll verification
- When
- Since the second week of November 2023
- Where
- Hakimpur, a border village in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal
- Why
- Fear of being caught without proper documents during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls
- Location
- Hakimpur, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal
- Population
- Over 10,000 (2011 Census)
- Trigger for Return
- Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls
- Migrants' Origin
- Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, and Jessore districts of Bangladesh
- Migrants' Occupations
- Daily wage laborers, brick kiln workers
- Village Response
- Providing food and water to returning migrants
- BSF Observation
- Increased reverse crossings since mid-November