Custodial torture of poor villagers off Bangladesh border: Complaint to NHRC

Aijul Haque

By A Representative
Based in Hooghly, civil rights leader Kirity Roy, secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) and national convenor, Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), in a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson, has brought to light yet another incident of what he called “brutal physical torture upon three villagers of different bordering villages in the district of Cooch Behar.”
This is the second letter Roy has shot within weeks. The first letter shot to the NHRC chairperson last month, strongly objected to the manner in which the Border Security Force (BSF) , the police and the judiciary in West Bengal have “treated” a 35 years old Bangladeshi woman victim of human trafficking, who was subjected to sexual exploitation for 15 long years, has been declared guilty of violating the Foreigners Act, violating all human rights norms.
In the latest letter, claiming that the BSF personnel attached with the Changrabanda Border Outpost, 148 Battalion, “illegally apprehended them and taken to their custody and afterwards tortured heavily which caused their physical injury”, Roy said, “BSF personnel chased some smugglers but when they failed to catch those smugglers, they illegally apprehended three innocent villagers.”
Stating that these villagers were “working in the agriculture field”, Roy said, they were “brutally tortured” and then released “after taking their signature by force in white blank paper.” He added, “Due to brutal torture Ainul Haque was admitted to the Mekhliganj Sub Divisional Hospital and Sanjib Biswas received primary treatment from the emergency ward of the hospital.”
Pointing out that on June 6, 2021 Rumi Begum, wife of Aijul Haque, one of the victims in this case lodged written complaint to the Officer in Charge of the Mekhliganj Police Station, received by the duty officer, Roy regretted, “No case was registered on the basis of the written complaint.”

Roy said, the episode suggests violation of Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and apex court guidelines in the case of Lalita Kumari vs State of Uttar Pradesh [WP (Crl.) 68 of 2008] “which clearly states that registration of First Information Report is mandatory under section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence.”
Giving full details of the victims, Roy further said, “The act of the BSF personnel violates Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and section 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on the Civil and Political Rights and Goal number 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals and in both these international instruments; the government of India is a party.”
Roy added, “During the time of check up the doctor did not mention the clinical findings, cause of ailment, age of ailment, notes after clinical examination and therefore it violates the guidelines set by the Indian Medical Association and Tokyo Declaration by the World Medical Association adhered by India.
Seek urgent NHRC intervention, Roy insisted, the case must be acknowledged and registered in the commission, the whole matter should be enquired into by an independent inquiring agency, there should be immediately registration of the written complaint of the victim’s wife as FIR, proper investigation and arrest of perpetrators should be carried out, and concerned police authorities must be directed to take immediate action for action against the perpetrator BSF personnel.

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Subaltern voices go digital: Three Indian projects rewriting history from the ground up

By A Representative A new wave of digital humanities (DH) work in India is shifting the focus away from university classrooms and English-language scholarship, instead prioritizing multilingual, community-driven archives that amplify subaltern voices . According to a review published in the Journal of Asian Studies , projects such as the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), the Oral History Narmada archive , and the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre are redefining how the country remembers its past — often without government funding or institutional support.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Search This Blog