BSF man “not guilty” in Felani killing case - another frustrating decision by the judicial authorities of the sub-continent.
Sometimes I wonder what is happening to the judges’ intelligence these days.
Felani, a girl of around 15 years old, hailed from the North Bengal region of our country, Bangladesh. She either decided to or was forced to choose the profession of a domestic help in our neighbouring India. People who have even a little knowledge of “what’s going on in the South Asia” know her name. If not, people can at least recall her from memory when one asks them: ‘remember that image of a dead body wearing red and blue clothes... hanging from the barbed wire… sometime around a year ago?’ Yes, we DO remember. She was Felani and, until the recent verdict of a special BSF (Border Security Force) court in India’s Cooch Bihar, we all knew she was killed by Indian BSF personnel.
On January 7, 2011, she was shot after her dress became stuck in barbed wire while she was trying to return to her country to get married. Felani and her father Nurul Islam were attempting to scale the fence at the Anantapur border point in Kurigram. Her father managed to survive the incident. Felani wasn’t so lucky. Most shockingly, according to media reports and locals, she was alive for at least four hours after being shot and asked for help and water while she was bleeding to death. But no Bangladeshi dared to go to her aid (who would dare, huh?) and no Indian border security guard was empathetic enough to help free her from the barbs or even provide her with some water. Felani’s body returned to Indian soil AGAIN after five long hours, assumedly once BSF personnel were sure that she was dead.
After this, we came to know about her marriage, her life as a domestic helper in New Delhi, and her family. She was shot because she was coming back to her country, since she was at the ‘standard age’ for getting married, according to her family and the society to which she belonged, but not according to the laws of Bangladesh.
We welcomed the decision of the Indian government when it decided to hold a trial against those accused in the Felani murder case. The people, particularly Felani’s family, had eagerly awaited some sort of justice which could bring an end to the atrocities of BSF personnel. We were more hopeful when BSF investigators submitted the charge sheet against BSF’s Constable Amiya Ghosh stating that he shot the Bangladeshi girl. I, as a human being, actually hoped that Indian- which claims to be a better country than ours and we admit is far more developed- would ensure justice for Felani. Throughout this case they had the chance to de-stigmatise their country’s BSF personnel, both nationally and internationally.
Sadly, nothing happened the way the aggrieved people had hoped it would. Rather, the verdict of the special BSF court in India’s Cooch Bihar became a milestone in the failures of both the Bangladeshi and Indian governments. With this verdict, both governments actually proved how unsuccessful they are at protecting the lives of their citizens, providing them with employment, and respecting neighboring country’s citizens.
Bangladesh has a long list of failures, particularly when it comes to questions of protecting citizens’ lives and livelihoods, and, of course, ensuring JUSTICE. That’s why the atrocities of BSF against Bangladeshis can only be labeled as simply “adding fuel to the fire.” I am confident that there is a more sophisticated way for India’s legal system to solve the problem of illegal border crossings and other border security issues. But are the Indian personnel following their laws when poor, neglected citizens of Bangladesh are violating Indian laws in Indian territories? Have the BSF started to use non- lethal weapons to protect their country from “Bangladeshi smugglers and illegal immigrants” as they promised? NO.
I hope we remember another example of BSF’s atrocities if the many statistics on BSF atrocities compiled by rights bodies aren’t enough- The video footage from December 9, 2011, where a Bangladeshi youth, Habibur Rahman, 22, was beaten and stripped of his clothes on the border at Rajshahi after he refused to pay the BSF troops a bribe.
I guess the government are forgetting Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote- “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” Well, Mr Lincoln, these exist no more.
