Human Rights Monitor
Human rights violations by BSF
1. On September 30, 2012 a Bangladeshi citizen, Hannan, was tortured to death by the members of BSF in Chapainawabganj, despite assurances given by the BSF Director General, U K Bansal that killings at the border will come down to zero. He said this at a-four day conference of the border guards of the two countries at Dhaka from 26-29 September 2012. In October 2012, according to Odhikar, five Bangladeshi citizens were killed and 12 Bangladeshi citizens were injured by the BSF. Furthermore, five Bangladeshis were abducted allegedly by the BSF during this period. Some instances are as follows:
2. On October 7, 2012 at around 11.30 pm, a 16-year old boy named Mohammad Sujon Ali was shot dead by BSF at Majhardia border under Poba Upazila in Rajshahi while he was fishing in the Padma river. It was learnt during a fact-finding mission that the BSF members of Harubhanga camp under Raninagar Police Station in Murshidabad were involved in this killing.
3. On October 7, 2012 the BSF members of Nouda Outpost in India opened fire at Bangladeshi farmers who were working in a field near international pillar 182 at Chokpara border under Shibganj Upazila in Chapainawabganj. Shetabul Islam, Sayem and Saidur of 19 Bigha village under Shibganj Upazila were shot.
4. On October 15, 2012, Indian Home Secretary, R K Singh, while visiting Bangladesh said that “those who were shot at the border were all smugglers. BSF had been repeatedly told to stop firing but they opened fire when they came under attack”.
5. Odhikar rejects the statement of the Indian Home Secretary in relation to the killings of Bangladeshi citizens. Odhikar believes that such statement of the Indian Home Secretary was an ill-attempt to justify killings and human rights violations by BSF at the border. In many occasion, BSF shot or tortured to death innocent people, including farmers and fisher folk at work in the border area even by entering into Bangladesh territory. Despite repeatedly raising this issue at the Government level and during the regular meetings between border guards of the two countries, it has remained mere words, which is a failure of Bangladesh foreign policy.
This is the abridged version of Odhikar's Human Rights Monitoring Report. Source: odhikar.org
