| Scroll Dear reader, We’ve just released our two-part video investigation from Assam, where we examine a troubling trend: hundreds of people being forcibly “pushed” across the border into Bangladesh. Our story began when Rokibuz Zaman tracked down Khairul Islam, a school teacher from Morigaon, who was picked up by the border police and pushed across the international border on May 27. Defying all odds, he made his way back home. Read his story here. Like Islam, many had been deported even though they had citizenship cases pending before higher courts. Islam’s experience became the starting point for our broader investigation. We traced the lives of those who have been detained and deported. This included an elderly man whose name features on the National Register of Citizens, and another man who had secured a High Court order protecting him from deportation. In one case, we even received a distress call from a woman stranded in Bangladesh after she had been “pushed back” across the border. In the villages, we found many were hiding away from their homes, fearing deportation. Many of the people we spoke to couldn’t appear on camera, but their stories of being torn from their homes at gunpoint were no less real – or urgent. Citizenship is the foundation of all other rights. Our reporting seeks to show what people endure to prove they belong and what happens when they can’t. The issue is complex, and it continues to shape politics and lives across the region. Check out our video reports: ‘Pushed’ into Bangladesh at gunpoint, two Assam residents return to narrate their ordeal ‘Please take me to Assam’: What a distress call from Bangladesh revealed Reporting on this has not been easy. Fear, silence and surveillance are real challenges. But we’ve pushed forward, all thanks to your belief in the importance of independent journalism. If you believe in work like this,support Scroll's studio fund today, so that we can bring to you more such ground reports. Your support helps us bring these critical stories to light. With gratitude,
Raghav Kakkar & Rokibuz Zaman Read On Scroll's Website | 