Bangladesh has claimed that India's Border Security Forces (BSF) shot dead a 15-year-old boy who was trying to enter India illegally. The teen was allegedly fired at when he was cutting the barbed-wire fence near the border at Thakurgaon, the village that borders India on Bangladesh's east.
The teen has been identified as Jayanta Kumar Singh, according to Dhaka-based Daily Star. The report, quoting a senior police official, said the boy was with his father when the firing happened.
Jayanta's father Mohadev Kumar Singh and another man were injured in the firing. "The members of Dingapara BSF camp opened fire on a group of people around 3:30 am when they were entering India illegally by cutting a barbed-wire fence on the border. Jayanta was shot and died on the spot while his father Mahadev Singh and Darbar Ali suffered bullet injuries," the police official said.
There are also reports that the body of the teen was taken away by the BSF personnel. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Battalion-50 Lt Colonel Tanjir Ahmmod told reporters that the authorities are raising the matter with the BSF personnel. "We asked our Indian counterpart BSF to hold a flag meeting over the matter," he added.
The report also added that 16 other Bangladeshis who went to India through the border earlier the same night were detained by BSF personnel.
There is no official statement from the BSF in this regard.
Earlier, authorities had alleged that a 16-year-old girl, identified as Swarna Das, was fatally shot by the BSF men on September 1. Her body was handed over to the Bangladeshi authorities 45 hours later. The BSF said the girl's body was discovered on Monday near the zero point of the India-Bangladesh border near Tripura.
Tripura Home Department said the girl was shot by the BGB while attempting to cross over to India. This was the family's third attempt to flee Bangladesh, after their lives were upended by the regime change, the authorities alleged. "When they were attempting to cross the border near Pillar No. 57 taking advantage of the absence of BSF at night, the BGB opened fire," The Times of India quoted Tripura Home Department sources.
Bangladesh, however, denied the claim and said they had filed a formal protest with India on this matter.
