27 Women and children who had been imprisoned in India beyond the end of their sentences before being returned to Myanmar remain imprisoned by the junta in Sagaing Region’s Tamu Town.
The Indian authorities handed the 20 women and seven children over to the Myanmar authorities at the Tamu Town border crossing on 21 March. They had spent three years in Sajiwa Prison in Imphal Town in India’s Manipur State for illegally entering India. All had been illegally held in prison by the Indian authorities for one to two years beyond the end of their sentences.
After they were returned to Myanmar the junta authorities continued to keep them imprisoned in Tamu Town and refused to let them return home because they had allegedly received a tip-off that some were involved in anti-coup activities.
A source close to the matter who spoke to Khonumthung News said: “They're now being held in a detention centre in Tamu Town, and they have to cover their own food expenses. The junta hasn't released them after receiving tips that they took part in protests in Lamka Town, Manipur, and were involved in fundraising and other anti-coup activities.”
The detainees, who are ethnic Chins and Bamars, originally from Sagaing and Magway regions, have at least been permitted visits from family members.
This was the third time that India had handed over Myanmar prisoners who had been held in Indian prisons beyond the end of their sentences. This time they were only released because India for Myanmar, an India-based independent grassroots advocacy movement aimed at restoring democracy in Myanmar, and 160 Myanmar based organisations put pressure on the Indian authorities. This followed the 10 March 2025 death from health complications of U Aung Myint, a Myanmar citizen also being held in Sajiwa Prison.
India for Myanmar said that the Indian authorities bear full responsibility for the safety and fate of the 27 women and children still imprisoned in Tamu Town because they handed them back to the junta authorities rather than allowing them to just cross the border anonymously and return to their families.
Currently resistance forces who hold all of Tamu Township apart from Tamu Town are concentrating their efforts on taking Tamu Town from the junta.
