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BSF men arrested for allegedly raping Indian woman trying to cross Bangla border
The woman alleged that she was gang-raped by two BSF personnel after she got separated from her husband while running away from the BSF team who were chasing them for trying to illegally cross the Bangladesh border
The West Bengal police on Friday night arrested two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel for allegedly gang-raping a 23-year-old Indian woman in front of her five-year-old daughter after her family was intercepted by BSF while trying to illegally cross the India-Bangladesh international border in south Bengal on Thursday night, police said on Saturday.
The police have arrested the two BSF personnel on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman. They were sent to police custody for seven days when produced in court on Saturday.
“The victim lodged a complaint with the Bagda police station alleging that she was gang-raped. Her five-year-old daughter was with her when the crime took place. We have arrested an ASI and a constable of the BSF. There was some tension in the area. We are keeping a watch,” said Tarun Halder, superintendent of Bongan police district.
The woman and her husband along with their two children were illegally trying to cross the international border with the help of a tout. Residents of Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, they were going to Bangladesh to meet an ailing relative.
When BSF chased them, the family started running and in the melee the couple got separated. While the husband managed to escape with the two-year-old child, the woman and her five-year-old daughter were intercepted by the two BSF personnel. They allegedly raped her in a farmland.
“They snatched my grand-daughter from my daughter. The child was thrown away. Then they beat her before raping her. My daughter later lodged a complaint with the police. We want justice,” said the woman’s mother.
The accused were identified as ASI SP Chero and constable Altaf Hossain of 68 battalion posted at Jitpur outpost.
“The BSF has lodged a separate complaint with the Bagda police station after receiving inputs about the alleged crime, from its own network. They have been suspended and a departmental enquiry has been started,” said AK Arya, DIG BSF (South Bengal Frontier).
The woman was taken to the hospital on Friday night where the doctors examined her. She appeared before the court today to give a statement under 164 CrPc. The arrested duo was also produced in the court and remanded to police custody.
The incident has once again fuelled the political row over the Centre’s amendment to the BSF Act in 2021 authorising the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a larger 50 km stretch, instead of the existing 15 kms, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal had hit out at the centre alleging that it was an infringement on state land through the back door. In November 2021, the state legislative assembly passed a resolution against the Centre’s decision.
The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has condemned the incident but said that a thorough investigation was needed as there could be a conspiracy behind it.
“If they are real culprits then stringent actions must be taken. But there needs to be a thorough and impartial investigation to find out if there is any conspiracy behind it. The political ambience is such that a conspiracy could be hatched to divert the issue,” said former BJP state president, Rahul Sinha.
“In Kashmir several such allegations had been raised against the army. Most of them were false. But it is a heinous crime and if anyone has committed it, he should be severely punished,” said Dilip Ghosh, BJP national vice president.
The TMC stepped up its attack against the BJP-led Centre saying that the border guarding was torturing people in bordering villages.
“BSF’s jurisdiction was increased from 15 km to 50 km to create such anarchy. BSF has been given full power to assist cattle smuggling, raise money for the BJP and torture people living in bordering villages,” said Jai Prakash Majumdar, state vice president of the TMC.
“We respect our forces. In recent times this has been shaken by horrendous acts. We demand a thorough investigation and punishment. They are not just raping but even killing civilians living in the bordering villages,” said TMC member of Parliament (MP) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
In January 2021, ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, the TMC alleged that BSF was coercing voters to cast their vote in favour of one party. While the Election Commission of India (ECI) said that the remark was “unfortunate”, BSF rubbished the charges.
