Skip to main content

Constitutional? Beef not permitted, anti-Muslim hate speech in WB border area

Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), & National Convenor, Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI) writes to the Principal Secretary (Home), Government of West Bengal:

***
This letter is for your immediate attention to the unlawful restrictions on agricultural activities that disrupt the livelihood of the poor marginalized villagers at Gangulia of Asaru Gram Panchayat under the Block and Police Station Bagda in North 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, by BSF persons attached to 107 Battalion posted at Mostafapur Border Outpost.
Gangulia is a border village where the IBBR road constructed by the CPWD goes through the village used by the people. As the road passes through Gangulia, earlier there was no border fence constructed. But now the BSF had used barbed wire border fencing fitted on bamboo poles on the IBBR. The installed barbed wire on wooden poles had blocked their houses. On the other hand, those who reside in between IBBR and IBP are completely isolated from the mainland.
The Company Commander Mr. Om Prakash Misra and other BSF subordinates reigned terror among the Muslim-populated Gangulia village. Even they are dictating on what food the village people would eat like not allowing beef to be consumed.
The posted BSF personnel do not operate the gate (open and close) as per the schedule and which caused loss to the farmers to sell their produce. Most of the time, the fence gate to access their farmlands remains closed. Their erratic behavior disturbs the agricultural activities which is the only livelihood of most of the villagers. For their own use, BSF persons depute villagers to work for them, which tantamount slavery . The security persons intrude on personal property like they chopped bamboo trees without permission for their own use. The registrar's book is used at the entry point, the villagers have to purchase for BSF which is supposed to be either way. The BSF men prohibited the farmers to cultivate mustard, jute and banana, and if they found it had been, they used poisonous spray to destroy the produce on the field. The Company Commander Om Prakash Misra made fun on Islam religion, restricting the people during namaz (prayer) at the mosque and he had visited the house of the person who performs the namaz. He also used derogatory remarks about the women and men who go for namaz at the mosque.
The ongoing situation perturbed the villagers and for respite, they approached with their complaints to the SDO on 11th November 2022 and BDO on 30th November 2022.
To my utter surprise, nearly two months had passed, the state government officials, the SDO & the BDO, took no action based on their complaints. Their utter failure to respond to the issue is not only challenging their life and livelihood but also violating Article 21 and Article 19 (1)(g), 39(a) and Article 25, right to practice religion of the Constitution of India and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The plight of the villagers and denial of their proper livelihood practices is against Articles 6 (Right to Work), 7 (Right to enjoyment just and favorable condition of work), 9 (Right to Social Security), and 11 (Right to Adequate Standard of living) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). In all these international instruments, the Government of India is a party and has taken a pledge to adhere with.
The inaction of the concerned government line departments, even after lodging the complaint by the victims, also violates Goal number 16 of the UN SDG which speaks of access to justice for all.
I request your urgent intervention in this case by fulfilling the following demands of the villagers:
  • Villagers should be allowed to use the CPWD road and no restrictions should be imposed on them. The barbed wire border fence they constructed without the approval of the DM of the district should be withdrawn immediately.
  • The Border Security Force should be posted at the zero point and not inside the village.
  • Like other places where the border gate is open for 12 hours, it should be implemented here too.
  • The BSF posted at Mostafapur BOP should immediately allow the villagers to have access to their lands in the enclosed area.
  • Villagers should be duly compensated for the loss that they are incurring due to the illegal restrictions by the BSF.
  • BSF should be instructed to follow their rules and not adhere to the prohibitory orders made by the local BSF personnel.
  • The Government of India and the Government of West Bengal should abide by the Chapter III of the Indian Constitution where the fundamental rights of Indian citizenry are enshrined
  • Disciplinary action should be taken against the BSF Company Commander and all others for imposing illegal restrictions upon the villagers and harassing them.BSF should not restrict the life and livelihood of the villagers, particularly of the farmers.
  • The villagers should be provided with adequate agricultural support.
I hope this letter clarifies the issue forced upon the villagers and which entails urgent resolution for their livelihood and to stop migration. Please allow me to further provide any information which you may require in resolving the case.

Comments

TRENDING

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan  In a groundbreaking  study  spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram  India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah  Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra  Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today. 

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By  A  Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah  A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”

May the Earth Be Auspicious: Vedic ecology and contemporary crisis in Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan*  Ashok Vajpeyi, born in 1941, occupies a singular position in contemporary Hindi poetry as a poet whose work quietly but decisively reorients modern literary consciousness toward ethical, ecological, and civilizational questions. Across more than six decades of writing, Vajpeyi has forged a poetic idiom marked by restraint, philosophical attentiveness, and moral seriousness, resisting both rhetorical excess and ideological simplification.