Indian border guard Amio Ghosh, the only accused in the killing of Bangladeshi teenager Felani Khatun, has pleaded ‘not guilty’.
A special BSF court in India’s Cooch Bihar began trying the murder case on Tuesday.
This is the first time any member of the Border Security Force (BSF) is being tried for killing a Bangladeshi national.
BSF shot dead Felani at Anantapur on Jan 7, 2011 along the Kurigram border when she was returning from India with her father Nurul Islam Nuru.
Her clothes had got entangled in the barbed wire and BSF guards gunned her down hearing her screams.
The bullet-ridden body of the 15-year-old dangled haplessly for nearly five hours, though she was reportedly alive for at least four hours. She eventually bled to death.
Several BSF members took her down, tied her hands and feet to a bamboo pole and carried her away. Her body was handed over next day and she was buried in the yard at home.
Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir has hoped it would be possible to avert similar tragic incidents in future if justice is served in the trial.
The BSF has informed the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that the trial would end within Aug 22.
Constable Ghosh had been in special custody since his alleged role in the killing came into question. He is allowed limited movements within BSF’s Unit-181 Battalion
He has been charged under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (unintended killing) and Section of 164 of the BSF Act.
Five BSF officials, led by Guwahati frontier DIG CP Trivedi, are conducting the trial at its outpost number 181.
General Security Forces Court (GSFC), as the court is known, is equivalent to court martial.
The trial, being conducted under BSF’s own Act has the power to confer greater punishment than the Indian Penal Code allows.
Various rights groups had pulled up the Indian border force for its atrocities along the porous Indo-Bangla border.
A total of 14 Bangladeshis had been gunned down from January to May this year, BGB Director General Major General Aziz Ahmed had said on Jun 26.
According to the BGB, 214 Bangladeshis have been killed over the past four and a half years by the BSF and Indian citizens.
Felani’s father Nuru and maternal uncle Abudl Hanif will testify in the case.
“Everyone saw how they (BSF) shot dead my daughter. I will tell the court what had happened so that the killers get maximum penalty,” the victim’s father had told bdnews24.com.
Pictures of the teenager’s dangling body gave rise to widespread criticism and protests forcing India to apologise.
The BGB had been mounting pressure on its Indian counterpart to start the trial.
Nuru, hailing from Banarbhita of Nageshwari, had been working in New Delhi for 10 years. They were returning to Bangladesh as her marriage had been fixed with a local boy, locals said.
Nuru and Hanif, along with Kurigram judge’s court Public Prosecutor SM Abraham Lincoln, BGB 45 Battalion Commander Lt Col Ziaul Haq Khaled are expected to go to India on Aug 18 to testify in the case the following day, BGB chief Major General Ahmed told bdnews24.com on Tuesday night.
“The trial is the first of its kind over border killings. It will remain as a milestone,” the BGB chief said.
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Source: Bd news24