The Felani verdict

The acquittal by a special Indian court of a BSF soldier in the Felani killing case comes as a huge surprise for people on both sides of the India-Bangladesh frontier. One would have expected justice to be served in a case where brutality had come to be of essence. The young Felani’s indiscretion might have been trying to cross over back into Bangladesh from India. But what did upset sensibilities in Bangladesh and also in India was the callous manner in which the young woman was shot dead. The sight of her hanging dead from the barbed wire at the border spoke volumes about the nature of her death. Simply stated, she did not need to be killed. The BSF personnel certainly had ample time to detain her rather than shoot her.
Felani’s family as well as many others in this country are not happy with the verdict. In similar manner, the Indian rights organization MASUM has made it clear that justice has not been served in the case and that it is considering challenging the verdict in the Indian Supreme Court. A rather encouraging note emerging from the announcement of the verdict is that the higher authorities of the BSF might reconsider it owing to the ‘extra-sensitive’ nature of the case.
One will keep fingers crossed. Even so, there is the very justified feeling that the judgment was not fair, that the acquittal of the soldier Amiya Ghosh could now serve as a precedent for similar tragic happenings in the future. That should not come to pass.