Lower Thirds: 

0:03	Report by Nimisha Jaiswal & Sharique Ahmad
0:17	Shona Banu | Assam resident
1:03	Nimisha Jaiswal | DW Correspondent | Barpeta District, Assam
1:50	Ajimon Khatun | Assam resident
2:24	Kishore Upadhyay | BJP Spokesperson
3:10	Shahjahan Ali | Activist

( info: Rights groups in India have raised an alarm about authorities rounding up and forcing dozens of Bengali-speaking Muslims across the border into neighbouring Bangladesh. Officials say these are illegal immigrants that they are pushing back to where they came from - but activists say many of them are Indians. People have been picked up from across the country - including the states of Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Rajasthan. The state government in the eastern state of Assam, which has seen decades of tensions over alleged migrants, has promised to step up these deportations. DW Special Correspondent Nimisha Jaiswal reports.)

Script: 

00:01
((Shots of her with child)) 
Shona Banu is a shell of her former self. Although she was allowed to return to her home in Assam, her brief deportation to Bangladesh haunts her. Weeks after her harrowing experience, she struggles to believe she is safe.  
  
00:15
SOT - Shona Banu, Assam resident  
My brain is not working…how can it work? I feel strange. Had I died, it would have been better than this torture. 

00:26
((Shots of her squatting, her brother showing us pictures of her in Bangladesh)) 
Banu says she was called in for what seemed like a routine check at the local police station. But she was transported overnight to a detention camp, and then pushed over the border into Bangladesh. 
 
00:37
SOT - Shona Banu, Assam resident  
They forced us through the border fence and shoved us to the other side. They started scaring us. As if they were going to fire on us. They pushed me into knee deep water. 

00:49
((Shots of Ashraf talking to her loudly, touching her shoulder - him holding up papers and talking)) 
Banu’s brother Ashraf Ali has been trying to support her. The ordeal to prove her Indian citizenship is not new to the family - a local tribunal declared Banu a foreigner a decade ago.  

01:01
PTC 
“These are not isolated cases. In this neighbourhood alone, many people have already approached us with their documents, hoping for help. The estimates vary, but the government at one point said as many as 150,000 residents of Assam have been declared foreigners.”  

01:18
((Shots of couple)) 
In a neighbouring district, the deportations have also terrorised Ajimon and her husband Kader. 

01:24 - breathe
 
01:26
((Shot of her bringing documents, me or Shahjahan looking at them, English pages)) 
Their family has also spent decades in legal battles, to prove they are Indian - collecting documents and receiving notices in a language they don’t understand.  

01:38
((Shot of foot, man crying)) 
A year ago, Kader had a stroke his family says was caused by stress. He breaks down in tears every time their status is discussed.  

01:48
SOT - Ajimon Khatun, Assam resident 
“My grandfather has papers, my grandmother has papers, my father is on the citizen list, he’s been on all the electoral rolls. I’m not a Bangladeshi. All my ancestors, my whole family is Assamese, I’m not a Bangladeshi. I’ve submitted all my documents, still they have made me a Bangladeshi. 

02:07 - breathe, husband crying 
 
02:10
((Shots of Upadhyay)) 
BJP spokesperson Kishore Upadhyay is skeptical of such papers. He says they can be easily forged, that Bangladeshi immigrants are falsely linking their names to Indian ancestors.  
 
02:21
SOT - Kishore Upadhyay, BJP Spokesperson 
We have to end this. An illegal immigrant comes here and takes advantage of the gaps in our system, threatens our political future - we cannot accept that.  
 
02:35
((Shots of spokesperson)) 
Upadhyay says the government will thoroughly recheck citizen lists, and evict more foreigners. He claims their presence is part of a larger plot for an immigrant takeover of Assam.   
   
02:46
SOT - Kishore Upadhyay, BJP Spokesperson 
“If they’re out to kill us, hurt our politics, our culture, to dominate us, why should we protect their human rights? Why should we suffer ourselves to protect their human rights?” 
 
02:59
((Shots of Shahjahan looking at papers, talking to people, close ups of people)) 
Shahjahan Ali disagrees. He’s been working as an activist for over 15 years, helping people with the gruelling process of proving their citizenship.  
 
03:08
SOT Shahjahan Ali, activist 
“Most of those affected are illiterate, they don’t understand these official documents, and they’re all in English. I’ve checked the documents of over 5,000 people, one  by one, each page, and not a single person is a Bangladeshi.”  
 
03:31
((Shots of documents, people)) 
But a minor spelling or date error in these documents can cause someone to be declared a foreigner. Shahjahan says these deportations add to a clear targeting of poor Muslim families. 

 03:43
((Shots of people))  
Leaving tens of thousands of Assam’s residents in dread. The dread of being denied a legal process they don't understand. And of finding themselves being forced into what for most, would be a foreign land.  

03:57 - VO ends

04:00 - shots end