Bengal border exodus: Thousands flee to Bangladesh fearing ECI's SIR drive

This India Today special report covers the mass exodus of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals from West Bengal, who are gathering at the Hakimpur border checkpost to return to Bangladesh. The report, featuring journalist Tapas Sengupta, explores how the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has triggered this reverse migration, prompting intensive checks by security forces amid fears that criminals could also exploit the situation to flee India. According to Tapas Sengupta, 'since after implementation of the SIR in Bengal, what they have understood that they might be taken into custody, there could be some legal implications and henceforth they decided on themselves to leave back for Bangladesh'.