Staff Reporter :
In less than a week, another Bangladeshi teenager has been killed by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at the Thakurgaon border in the northern district.
The incident occurred on Monday, marking the second such fatality within seven days.
The deceased, identified as Joyanta Kumar Singh, 14, was the son of Mahadev Kumar Singh from Fakirvita Belpukur village in Thakurgaon.
Police sources confirmed that the fatal shooting took place at Kantivita border in Baliadangi Upazila, Thakurgaon district.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Baliadangi Police Station, Firoz Kabir, stated that another individual, Md Darbar Ali, 50, sustained bullet injuries while attempting to trespass the border.
“Quoting locals, the OC said that BSF personnel opened fire when a group tried to illegally cross into India by cutting through the barbed-wire fence at around 3 am.
Joyanta was killed on the spot, while two others sustained injuries,” Kabir noted. He added that several others in the group managed to escape.
The injured, Mahadev Singh and Darbar Ali, are currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Rangpur.
This latest killing occurred just one day after the Home Affairs Adviser, Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md. Jahangir Alam Choudhury, expressed the interim government’s firm stance against further border incidents like that of Felani.
“We don’t want to see incidents like Felani’s anymore. Don’t turn your backs at the border.
Fulfil your assigned duties,” Choudhury urged, stressing the importance of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) operating within the law.
Earlier, on 13 August, former Home Affairs Adviser Brigadier General (Retd.) M Sakhawat Hossain, now serving as Adviser to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute and the Ministry of Shipping, had similarly directed the BGB.
“We have instructed the force not to turn their backs at the border. Our people get killed, and the BGB is forced to hold flag meetings.
I’ve said, ‘Don’t turn your backs. Enough is enough,’” Hossain remarked.
Last Sunday, another minor, Swarna Das, was killed by the BSF while attempting to cross into India near the Lalarchak border in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura Upazila.
This incident elicited a sharp response from the interim government, which lodged an official protest with India.
In a protest note sent to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Thursday, the Government of Bangladesh strongly condemned the killings, expressing deep concern and labelling them as “ruthless acts.”
The note reiterated that such incidents are in violation of the Joint Indo-Bangladesh Guidelines for Border Authorities, 1975, deeming the killings “undesirable and unwarranted.”
According to Ain O Salish Kendra, over 200 Bangladeshis were killed by BSF between January 2018 and December 2023. In addition to the deaths, hundreds of others were tortured.
In 2022 alone, 28 people lost their lives, and 31 others were subjected to severe physical abuse.
The worst year was 2020, with 42 people shot dead by BSF and six others tortured to death.
From 2009 to 2017, government data shows that 291 Bangladeshis were killed by BSF.
The highest number of casualties occurred in 2009, while at least 17 were killed in 2017.
Despite numerous high-profile meetings between Dhaka and Delhi aimed at reducing these killings to zero, the incidents persist.