Bangladeshi woman held in Kanhangad after living in Perinthalmanna for 2 years without documents

Kasaragod: Hosdurg Police arrested a 31-year-old woman at Kanhangad railway station after allegedly finding a Bangladeshi national identity card on her mobile phone.

Police said Salma Khatun, a native of Jashore city in southwestern Bangladesh, was arrested at Kanhangad railway station. She reportedly told police that she has been living in Malappuram's Perinthalmanna town for the past two years. As she could not produce any travel document or passport, she was booked under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, said sub-inspector Jijesh CP.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), Jijesh, along with  Probationary Sub-Inspectors Anjali and Vinod Kumar C, was on patrolling duty when they spotted Khatun under a banyan tree at the railway station. The FIR describes her as wearing yellow trousers, a white top and a light blue scarf, and the officers found her suspicious.

On questioning her, the officers found that she could not speak Malayalam. According to the FIR, she informed them that she knew Hindi. When asked her name and address in Hindi, she initially did not respond. After repeated questioning, she identified herself as Salma Khatun, the daughter of Shoukath Biswas from Namajgram village in Sathipur, Jashore district, Bangladesh.

The FIR states that officers then asked for the passcode of her mobile phone. On examining the IMO messaging app, they found an ID card issued by the government of Bangladesh. The document allegedly carried the name "Mst Salma Khatun" along with her photograph. Mst stands for Mosammat, a prefix used strictly before the names of married Muslim women in Bangladesh. "The information on her phone confirmed she was a Bangladeshi citizen from Jashore," said SI Jijesh.

The woman allegedly failed to give a clear explanation when asked how she had entered India. Police further recorded that she admitted she did not possess a visa, passport or any other document authorising her stay in the country. "She said she came to meet a friend," he said.

Khatun reportedly told police that she was staying in a rented house near Moulana Hospital in Perinthalmanna.

Police also searched a brown shoulder bag that she was carrying and found a PAN card, a purse labelled "Nellikurssi Jewellery", and a jewellery box containing a pair of gold-coloured earrings, a chain with a locket and a nose stud. Nellikurssi is a jewellery shop at Cherpulassery in Palakkad district.

After recording her arrest, she was taken to Kanhangad District Hospital for medical examination. She has been remanded in custody.

She was booked under sections 3(1) and 21 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, for entering India without valid documents. If convicted, she faces imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, or both.