BSF constable Amiya Ghosh who was charged with killing Bangladeshi girl Felani Khatun in 2011 is now free. The special court, constituted by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India, in its verdict has acquitted Amiya of the murder charge.
Felani, 15, was shot dead by the BSF man while she was entering Bangladesh over the barbed-wire fences along Anantapur border point in Kurigram district on January 7, 2011. However, the verdict is yet to be declared officially and it has been sent to the BSF director general for final approval, said Kurigram public prosecutor Abraham Lincoln quoting Indian Express Paschimbanga correspondent Madhupurna Das.
Lincoln who took part in the hearing in the BSF special court in Cooch Behar in India last month said justice has been denied through the judgment. “The possibility to bring an end to the border killings through the trial of the killers has faded. The verdict is tantamount to disregarding human rights and legalising the self-confessed killing.” Human rights violation along the border will mark a rise following the verdict, he said.
Felani’s father Nurul Islam who along with her uncle Hanif testified in the court on August 19 at the trial of the Bangladeshi innocent girl rejected the verdict. “I couldn’t understand how a killer who confessed to the killing has been acquitted.” He also said they would move to the international court to get justice.
The judge of the one-member special court, the DIG of BSF’s Guwahati frontier, began the trial at the BSF 181 battalion headquarters in the area amid restriction on August 13. The trial began after a BSF investigation team formed in this regard submitted a chargesheet against Amiya, convicting him of unintentional murder under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, and under section 146 of the BSF law. – UNB
The Indian High Commission in Dhaka has urged all to wait for the final outcome of the Felani trial as its spokesperson said “this is only the first step”. In response to the special court’s verdict that found the India’s Border Security Force (BSF) troop not guilty of murder, the spokesperson said that “This is subject to review by a competent authority”. “We should wait for the final outcome.”
A five-man BSF General Security Forces court, headed by its Assam-Meghalaya frontier DIG (Communication) SP Trivedi, conducted the hearings at the Sonari BSF camp near the North Bengal town of Cooch Bihar from Aug 13. BSF’s 181 Battalion constable Amiya Ghosh, the prime accused in the killing, was not found guilty because of ‘inconclusive and insufficient’ evidence against him.
West Bengal-based rights group MASUM’s Kirity Ray lashed out at the BSF for ‘unleashing a reign of terror’ on the border and said Felani was a victim of it.
Loncoln said they would not be able to appeal against the judgment as India filed the case against the BSF personnel and the trial had been conducted in a special court.
“We (Felani’s father and him) don’t have the chance to appeal. But the Bangladesh government or Indian people can create pressure on the Indian government for an appeal”.- bdnews24.com
