Chaos erupted at the West Bengal assembly after Trinamool Congress legislator Udayan Guha accused personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) of inappropriately touching women while searching them during border movement.
The Dinhata MLA further said that no matter how much the personnel chanted ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, they were not patriotic.
Guha made the statement during a discussion on the Centre's decision to extend the BSF's jurisdiction up to 50km inside the international border.
The Centre, earlier in the month of October had empowered the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
{{/usCountry}}The Centre, earlier in the month of October had empowered the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
{{/usCountry}}Refuting Guha's allegations, a BSF officer told news agency ANI that its ‘Mahila Praharis’ are the ones authorised to frisk women.
“BSF is a professional force that has always performed the mandated duties by adhering to the rules and regulations. BSF Mahila Praharis are the ones who do frisking of females. The allegations of inappropriately touching women by BSF personnel are utterly baseless,” the BSF officer was quoted as saying.
The BSF, which was only empowered to take action up to 15 kilometres in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, has now been authorised to extend its jurisdiction up to 50km without any hurdle or permission either from central or state governments.
While Punjab has already registered its protest against the decision, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said her government would take up the matter with the Centre.