2 Bangladeshi Men Killed by BSF Near Border as Union Home Secy Heads to Bengal Amid Jurisdiction Row

Two Bangladeshi men suspected to be cattle smugglers were killed along the border in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on Friday when the BSF thwarted their alleged attempt to enter Indian territory.

The incident took place on a day when Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla is visiting Kolkata to meet West Bengal Chief Secretary and other state officials to discuss border development issues. It was not confirmed whether West Bengal plans to raise the issue of BSF jurisdiction being extended in the state but the Home Ministry has said that the meeting would be restricted to pre-decided agenda.

In a statement on Friday’s incident, the BSF said a soldier was also injured in the incident.

“On 12th Nov 2021 at about 0300 hrs, miscreants from Bangladesh side ventured into Indian territory and tried to smuggle cattle heads by establishing improvised bamboo cantilever. BSF domination ahead of fence warned them to go back, but miscreants didn’t pay heed to BSF warning (sic),” the statement said.

It added that the troops resorted to non-lethal munition but the duo allegedly attacked the soldiers with iron dha, a type of knife, and sticks. “Sensing imminent threat to the life, BSF party fired in air towards miscreants. Later on search, dead bodies of two unknown miscreants were found between border fence and international boundary,” the BSF statement said.

The region remains tense as various intrusions have been intercepted by the BSF in the last few months.

In September, the BSF, in a special operation, apprehended an inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police while he was moving suspiciously in Indian territory in the general area of Changrabandha. Four debit cards, 20 USD, 15 Euros, two high-end mobile phones with Bangladeshi SIM cards and few medicines were recovered from his possession.

Friday’s incident in Cooch Behar also took a political turn when Trinamool Congress MLA Jagadish Basuniya blamed it on the extension of BSF jurisdiction. “This happened because jurisdiction of the BSF has been increased… The BSF is supposed to fire rubber bullets first. But in this case, they did not do so,” the MLA said.

Cooch Behar is the Lok Sabha constituency of Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik.

The Union government had last month amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50 km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. Both Punjab and West Bengal have opposed the move, with Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee writing to the Centre as well.

“We have sent a letter protesting the move. Earlier, they had jurisdiction of 15 km, there were incidents of firing in Balurghat or Cooch Behar. Now, they extended it to 50 km. This is an attempt to interfere with the federal structure of the country,” Banerjee had said at an administrative review meeting on October 25.

The Home Ministry has, however, said that the meeting between Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Bengal Chief Secretary is to discuss pending border development works. “The visit of Union Home Secretary to Kolkata today is regarding meeting with Chief Secretary to discuss pending land acquisition cases for construction of border fence and road projects, border outposts and integrated check posts,” the ministry said.

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