BSF man's acquittal worries SAHR

Rights organisation South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) yesterday strongly condemned the recent acquittal of a constable of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) by a special West Bengal court over the killing of Bangladeshi teenager Felani Khatun.

“The SAHR is deeply concerned that although the latest verdict of not guilty is subject to revision and approval by an additional director general, the review too would be a parody of justice,” it said in a press statement.

The rights body urged the ADG to act according to national laws and international obligations of India in protecting human rights and deliver a decision, which is both just and humane. It also condemned the mockery of justice.

The killing of Felani is a part of dozens of such atrocities and violation of human rights including torture and extrajudicial killings by the BSF, which continues to remain unpunished.

On January 7, 2011, Felani, 15, was shot dead while crossing into Bangladesh illegally as her clothes got stuck in the barbed-wire fence in Phulbari upazila, Kurigram.

Constable Amiya Ghosh of BSF's 181 Battalion was charged with culpable homicide for the killing.

In 2013, a BSF trial court acquitted the constable, and a revision trial by the same court returned the same verdict on July 2 this year.