Changing policy rhetoric of BSF towards Bangladesh

On January 7_ 2011_ Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead a 15- year-old Bangladeshi girl_ Felani Khatun_ after she got entangled in the barbed wire fence while trying to cross back into her country.

Felani's body was hanging on the border fence for more than four hours_ triggering a huge reaction.

The photograph of Felani s dead body hanging from the fence caused huge outrage in Bangladesh and West Bengal because Felani was no smuggler or terrorist and had only come to attend a kin s marriage with her father.

What added to the outrage was that the BSF soldier responsible for shooting Felani was constantly acquitted in BSF courts. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) made amends by finally announcing a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Felani s family.

Abraham Lincoln_ whom the Bangladesh government appointed to represent Felani s case legally in India_ claimed the NHRC s verdict 'served to establish the fact that the killing was unjustified'.

In the name of state duty_ the offender killed an unarmed girl who didn't deserve to be killed. The state can justify a killing if there's a cogent reason_ but there was none here_ Lincoln has been quoted by the Indian media as saying.

Indian and Bangladeshi NGOs have long blamed the Border Security Force for a string of abuses_ including extrajudicial killings_ torture_ and ill-treatment of both countries border people.
 Indian government orders border forces to exercise restraint and limit the use of live security that haven't prevented new killings_ torture and other serious abuses_ said Meenakshi Ganguly_ South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Indian government s failure to hold security personnel accountable has led to further abuses and the harassment of truly poor and vulnerable populations_ she added.

Bangladesh s NGO Odhikar alleged that the Indian Border Security Force has killed at least 334 Bangladeshis since 2011 and committed other cases of severe abuse_ including 51 killings in 2020.

Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)_ based in West Bengal_ says it has investigated at least 105 alleged killings by BSF in the border areas since 2011.

Nearly all these killings were unprovoked and the victims were unarmed civilians_ and none of their families will ever get justice because the troops responsible go unpunished_ MASUM chief Kirity Roy said.

The border killings have become a major irritant in improving bilateral relations between the two countries. The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has relentlessly raised the issue in all its conferences with the BSF.

Finally_ the BSF seems to be addressing the issue_ albeit belatedly. Current BSF Director-General Pankaj Kumar Singh issued a strict directive to his commanders' in mid-April to stop the killing of unarmed civilians.

The directive aimed at imposing 'maximum restraint' on forces deployed on the boundary with Bangladesh.

The Border Security Force is the world s largest border force. It guards India s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh_ with two theatre commands commanded by an additional director general.

There has been a growing body of opinion in the Indian government and within the BSF that the hard approach to boundary policing necessary for a hostile border like the one with Pakistan wasn't appropriate for the border with a trusted friend like Bangladesh.