A key member of the Bangladesh Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, constituted on August 27, 2024, flew from Dhaka to New Delhi on Biman Bangladesh flight (BG-397) on October 20 for a week-long visit which documents accessed by Northeast News show has been described as “personal”.
A notification issued by the inquiry commission on October 16 shows that commission member and human rights activist Noor Khan Liton was scheduled to land at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on October 20.
Noor Khan Liton is to be in the Indian capital from October 21 to 26 when he would “complete personal work”.
Recently, Bangladeshi poet and rights activist Farhad Mazhar, whose wife Farida Akhter is the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Adviser, also visited India secretly.
Mazhar attended a conference in Hyderabad about a week ago.
The notification says that the human rights activist, who played a leading role in documenting alleged instances of enforced disappearances during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure as prime minister from 2009 to 2024, would return to Bangladesh by taking the land route.
Noor Khan Liton is scheduled to reach the Benapole (in Bangladesh) immigration checkpost at 11:30 pm.
After immigration-related formalities, the human rights activist would take the Rupasi Bangla Express train (829) to Kamalapur in Dhaka.
A copy of the notification has already been shared with the Jessore district administration authorities.
Benapole is in Jessore district which adjoins Petrapole in North 24 Parganas on the Indian side of the border.
The term of the five-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, headed by Justice (retd) Moinul Islam Chowdhury.
Besides Noor Khan Liton, the other commission members are Farid Ahmed Shibli, Nabila Idris, a BRAC University professor and human rights activist Sazzad Hossain.
In June 2025, Bangladesh’s Cabinet Division had extended the commission’s term till December 31, 2025.
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In December last year, Chowdhury had alleged, without providing sufficient evidence, of an Indian hand in the disappearance of Bangladeshi nationals.
A provisional report – ‘Unfolding the Truth’ – submitted by the commission held former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responsible for alleged instances of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh between January 2009 and July 2025.
It had said that during this period there were an estimated 3,500 cases of enforced disappearances in which senior officials of the erstwhile Awami League regime were allegedly involved.
Speaking with reporters on December 15, 2024, Hossain had said that the commission had recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances. Of these, 758 were examined till 2024 end.
About 200 individuals allegedly never returned home while those who did resurface were shown in official records as arrested.
