A senior human rights activist has alleged that a poor woman, belonging to a village next to the India-Bangladesh border, was "inhumanly beaten up" by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in broad daylight. Lodging a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson, Kirity Roy said, the BSF personnel were in plain clothes when they resorted to the "torture."
Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), said in his complaint that the incident pertains ro Sarbanu Sardar, wife of Kuddus Sardar, who resides at Bithari village of Block and Police Station Swarupnagar, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. She "suffered the torture of public flogging by BSF persons of G Branch, 'D' Company, 112 Battalion of Bithari BOP", the complaint added.
Giving details Roy said, "On the morning of December 19, 2022, Sarbanu Sardar was on the way to her field near Gate No 2 of the border fence, when four BSF persons of G Branch of 112 BN BSF, Zaffar Hussain Khan, a lady Constable Liva, and two other constables accosted and interrogated her about a suspicious person they had failed to trace. Failing to trace the unknown person, instead, the BSF persons brutally tortured her mercilessly."
According to the complaint, "The incident entails an apparent violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of which India is a party."
"The incident and subsequent impunity legitimize our long-standing demand for immediate ratification of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment", it added.
Seeking NHRC intervention, Roy demanded the BSF personnel responsible for the incident should be prosecuted under appropriate penal provisions in an open court of law based on the complaint by the victim to the Officer in Charge of Swarupnagar Police Station, North 24 Parganas."
Asking the authorities to take "all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of the victim", Roy said, "The BSF authority should compensate for all the medical expenses incurred by the victims regarding her medical pre- and post-hospitalization."
Insisting that the "BSF persons should be posted at the zero point not inside territory of the border fence", Roy further demanded, BSF of Bithari border outpost "should immediately withdraw the false FIR against Sarbanu Sardar."
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