IT HAS been 13 years since India’s Border Security Force killed Felani Khatun in the Anantapur border at Phulbari in Kurigram on January 7, 2011. It is generally not easy for victims of border violence to seek legal redress, but Felani’s parents, with support of national and international rights organisations, could demand justice. The accused BSF member faced trial in two phases, but in both cases, he was acquitted. In 2015, the victim’s father, with assistance of Banglar Manabadhikar Surakhsha Mancha in India, filed a writ petition with India’s Supreme Court seeking Central Bureau of Investigation involvement, but the petition has been pending for eight years. In 2021, the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh wrote to the India’s rights commission seeking an effective advocacy against border killings. The Bangladesh commission also raised the issue at the UN South Asia Forum but has so far received no response. India appears to be using legal bureaucracy to avoid taking responsibility for Felani’s death while border violence continues.

In 2023, the India’s border forces killed at least 30 Bangladeshis. In 2022, as Ain O Salish Kendra report, the BSF killed at least 16 Bangladeshis in the border with India. In 2000–2020, according to Odhikar, at least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 more were injured. There are allegations against the Indian force of torturing Bangladeshis and intentionally delaying the handover of bodies of the victims. All such are violations of internationally accepted border control protocols. Over the years, at many directorate general meetings, India has agreed to use non-lethal weapons, but it continues to use lethal forces. The Bangladesh foreign minister, meanwhile, maintains that a ‘good relationship’ exists between the two countries and advises the citizens of the border areas to avoid cross-border cattle and other illegal trade. What the government undermines is that under no circumstances, the BSF is entitled to apply a shoot-to-kill policy. When it is expected that the government should strongly raise the issue of border violence with India and demand an investigation of all allegations of torture, it has, rather, taken a subservient attitude that leaves citizens unprotected and vulnerable.

In the context of escalating border violence, Felani’s case carries special significance as it helps Bangladesh to make the point that violations of border control policies will not be tolerated. The government must, therefore, abandon its capitualistic policy towards India, sit at bilateral meetings with the sovereign interest of the nation in focus and demand that the pending investigation of the killing of Felani and other similar deaths should be done judiciously. Indian authorities should also realise that continued border killings in frontiers only add to a growing resentment in Bangladesh against India.