The Indian Supreme Court has deferred proceedings in a writ petition filed in connection with the death of Bangladeshi girl Felani Khatun, who was killed by the BSF.
Even though a hearing on the petition was scheduled for yesterday, the case was not included in the cause list, said Kurigram public prosecutor Abraham Lincoln, who has been providing legal counsel to Felani’s father.
The Indian Supreme Court would later fix another date for the hearing, Lincoln added.
On July 14, the petition was jointly filed by Felani’s father Nurul Islam and Kolkata-based human rights organisation Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum), rejecting verdicts by a special BSF court that acquitted the self-confessed killer Amiya Ghosh.
The Supreme Court accepted the petition and sought explanation on the case from India’s home minister, central government, West Bengal chief secretary, and the director general of the country’s Border Security Force (BSF).
On January 7, 2011, Felani, 15, was shot dead by the BSF at Anantapur border point in Kurigram’s Phulbarhi upazila while she was trying to climb over the barbed wire fence. She was on her way to Bangladesh with her father from Delhi where she used to work as a domestic help.
A photo showing Felani hanging from the fence was widely circulated by the media, sparking protests among people and prompting international rights groups to demand justice.
On September 5 last year, the General Security Forces Court of the Indian BSF in West Bengal acquitted 181 battalion Constable Amiya Ghosh because of “inconclusive and insufficient” evidence against him, the court said in its verdict.