Bangladesh will seek a progress report on the Felani murder case at a five day conference between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Security Force of India (BSF) scheduled to begin in New Delhi today.
Felani, a 15-year-old girl, was shot dead near the BSF Choudhuryhat Camp as she was trying to cross the barbed-wire fence at Anantapur border point in Kurigram’s Phulbarhi upazila in 2011.
Her body was left hanging from the fence for quite a while. The killing had provoked huge outrage in both Bangladesh and India.
“The issue of Felani's killing is on the agenda and we would want to know of the progress during the conference,” BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
The BGB chief would lead a 22-member delegation from Bangladesh, a senior official of the home ministry said.
Last September, during a conference held in Dhaka, BSF officials said they would consider Dhaka's concern over the Felani issue.
In a letter issued last week, BSF wanted to know whether Felani's father and maternal uncle could be produced for a deposition.
“We have replied to the letter that we are ready to produce them and asked them to let us know when and where,” Ahmed said.
Seeking anonymity, a lawyer who is helping Felani's family, said her father Nur Islam appealed to the Indian Supreme Court, seeking compensation and fair trial of her killing.
On September 6, 2013, a special court set up by BSF acquitted BSF Constable Amiya Ghosh from the charge of killing Felani Khatun at the Cooch Behar border.
BSF’s 181 Battalion Constable Amiya Ghosh, the prime accused, could not be found guilty because of “inconclusive and insufficient” evidence against him, the court said in its verdict.
During a BGB-BSF conference held in September, 2013 in Dhaka, the Indian side promised to stop border killings by BSF, however, several incidents of border killings have taken place since then.
According to media reports, on June 28, 2014, BSF killed a Bangladeshi trader on the Putkhali border of Jessore Benapole.
On February 26, 2014, BSF shot dead a Bangladeshi cattle trader on Panchbibi frontier in Joypurhat.
“We would press the issue of border killing until it is brought down to zero,” BGB chief said.
Issues like curbing trans-border crimes, increasing coordinated patrolling to prevent criminals, smugglers and insurgents on the border would also be discussed, he said.
