Says BBC report quoting his confession to Indian magistrate
Indian documents do not support the reported personal statement of Shukharanjan Bali from Kolkata jail that he was pushed into Indian territory by Bangladeshi security agencies, reports BBC Bangla Service.
Examining documents of Indian court verdict and records of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) and police regarding Bali’s entrance into India, the BBC yesterday said Bali confessed to his guilt for entering the country illegally on his own.
Second additional magistrate on 3rd April’s verdict pointed out that Bali’s lawyer filed a petition where Bali mentioned “he wants to confess”.
Bali said in that petition: “I’m a Bangladeshi. I confess my guilt.”
The BBC said there was no mention of any incident of pushing him into India.
In the charge sheet, it is mentioned that Bali was suspiciously roaming near the Ahmadia border of Uttar Chabbish Pargana and the BSF apprehended him.
It also said Bali tried to flee.
In the cross-examination, Bali mentioned his name, address and father’s name. Bali said he came to India to meet his brother Poritosh Bali, who lives in Bongaon near Petrapol border of India.
The court found him guilty and jailed him for 105 days and fined Tk 500.
The court also mentioned that the duration of detention and trial process will be deducted from the penalty.
According to the verdict, his imprisonment period had already been over and the court ordered to send him back to Bangladesh.
The BBC examined the charge sheet signed by company commander BP Singh of 152 Battalion of BSF, the FIR made by officer-in-charge of Swarupnangar Police Station of Uttar Chabbish Pargana district and the verdict.
The report said it did not find in the BSF and police’s interrogation reports that security agency of Bangladesh abducted Bali while he was going to testify and pushed him into India.
A Bangladeshi newspaper, which published a report on the issue on Thursday, mentioned that Bali had sent a statement from the jail to the newspaper with a description of his abduction and how he was sent to India.
Mosharaf Hossain, a lawyer of India’s Bashirhat court, analysing court documents, revealed the person’s name to be Sukhranjan Bala. His father is late Lalit Ranjan Bala of Pararhati village in Gangarampur Police Station of Pirojpur district in Bangladesh, according to the BBC report on Thursday.
Mosharaf said that since most of the BSF men were Hindi-speaking people, they might have wrongly written Sukharanjan’s title after his arrest.
From court documents, it was also learnt that the BSF handed him over to Swarupnagar police and a case was filed against him on December 25 last year.
Shukharanjan was produced before an Indian court the following day and was charged for illegal trespassing.
Source: The Daily Star
