January 19, 2012

Mrs. Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Office of the Prime Minister

Tejgaon, Dhaka

BANGLADESH

Fax: +880 2 811 3244 / 3243 / 1015 / 1490

Tel: +880 2 882 816 079 / 988 8677

E-mail:  pm@pmo.gov.bd or  ps1topm@pmo.gov.bd or  psecy@pmo.gov.bd

Re: Border Security Force continues war on people of Bangladesh in Indo -Bangla border



Dear Mrs.Sheikh Hasina ,

I am writing to express my concern regarding a Bangladeshi citizen brutally tortured by Indian Border Security Force (BSF).

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and its partner organisation, the Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), have been documenting and reporting cases of extreme forms of brutality committed by the Border Security Force (BSF) stationed along the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal state.

Since the past eight years, MASUM is reporting directly and through international human rights organisations like the AHRC, cases against the BSF to the Indian authorities. So far MASUM has reported about 800 cases. These are cases of torture and other forms of custodial violence, rape, murder, extortion and corruption. The AHRC is not aware of any open and credible action taken against any of the officers mentioned in these cases, though every possible detail has been provided to the authorities.
According to the latest information received is a video of extreme torture by the BSF of a civilian that reportedly happened on 16 January 2012. The video shows blood-chilling torture, committed by the BSF. The incident is a shame and the brutality documented alarming, suggesting that the officers require psychiatric assistance, a condition that challenges their very legitimacy to guard the country’s border.

When the video was aired yesterday through local television channels in West Bengal, the administration has taken ‘action’. This is the suspension of eight BSF officers and the transferring of the District Magistrate (DM) and the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Murshidabad district.
International human rights watchdog Asian human rights commission shared in the statement that the official defensive statement by the BSF, that the video could be as old as 15 years, is nothing but irresponsibility in print. The security agency that is mandated to protect the country’s border should have the minimum knowledge, that mobile telephones with a camera, now though common, was exceptionally rare 15 years ago. The BSF does not have a case that their officers exposed in the video are serving in the same outpost for the past 15 years. If the video is not of an incident that happened on 16 January, then on what reason was the officers stationed at Charmurasi border outpost suspended?

AHRC also disclosed that the video shows officers, identifiable in person, violating every code of their operative mandate, in some of the most brutal and inhuman manner. It shows the alarming wilt of discipline among the officers. Any agency, having such sick officers posted on duty has serious reasons to consider overhauling its operative structure to ensure basic discipline. In the BSF however, such actions are unlikely to happen. At the most the case would end, probably after a decade, with some punitive actions taken against the officers who are now placed under suspension.

In the statement AHRC also mentioned that the DM and the SP, of Murshidabad should have known that such incidents are common. They cannot content otherwise, since the MASUM and the AHRC together have sent these officers some 800 cases during the past eight years. These two officers have the legal responsibility to answer for what is in the video since had their office been diligent enough such incidents would not have repeated. In a case reported by the AHRC and MASUM on 19 October 2012, the victim in the case was stoned to death by the BSF. The incident happened within the jurisdiction of Raninagar Police Station. No action has been taken on this case so far. The details of the case are available at AHRC-UAC-210-2011.
AHRC mentioned that the Inspector General (IG) of the BSF is also responsible for the incident since the IG’s office is bound by ‘command responsibility’. In the same vein, the Inspector-General commanding the South Bengal Frontier unit of the BSF and the Commandant and under whom the officers involved in the incident served are also to be punished. Command responsibility is no legal fiction. It is legal norm, which applies in this case without exception.

AHRC shared that most importantly the question that needs to be answered now is that what allows the BSF to perpetuate such horrendous forms of violence against unarmed civilians? Had the BSF been operating in compliance with the Border Security Force Act, 1968 and its Rules 1969, such incidents would not have happened. It shows that discipline and commitment to duty is not ensured within the rank and file in the force. Violence by the BSF against unarmed civilians and other forms of corruption and crimes committed by the BSF with impunity is a threat to the border security of the nation. Such a BSF is a threat to the entire country.

If experience were of any value, one need to see whether, at least in this occasion there would be a transparent investigation and adjudication. If national security is of any interest to the government, it should prove it by taking actions in all cases reported to the government, of crimes committed by the BSF. The AHRC is willing to once again submit to the Government of India a dossier containing details of the cases documented by the AHRC involving the BSF.

Dear Prime Minister, It is not an isolated issue of Brutal torture by neighboring country’s Border Security Force. Indo-Bangladesh became ground of human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, reports of rape.

Bangladesh is not in war with India or there is no visible enmity between two friendly countries. I want to remind you hold a constitutional position and you also have the responsibility to secure the life of the citizens’ home or aboard.

I request you please publicly discuss with Indian government of the requirements for the treatment of detainees under international human rights law, in particular the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention Against Torture).

I condemn your government’s continuous failure to address the continuous the life and property of Bangladeshi citizens from the Indian BSF.

Please ask the Indian government to stop war on the peaceful Bangladeshi citizen and take proper action against the forces and bring them under law.

I urge you, ask the Indian government to form a special commission inquire the cases of torture, rape and other forms of human rights violations on Bangladeshi citizens of last 3 years and bring the perpetrators under law and insist the Indian government to give proper compensation to the Bangladeshi victims of torture, rape and other sorts of human rights violations, who were victimize by the BSF and other forces in Indo Bangla border.

I suggest you in terms of information’s of different human rights violations on Bangladeshi citizens in Indo Bangla border the prominent Indian human rights organization Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) would be a natural and credible source of information.

I will again urge you take the proper initiative to secure the life and property of Bangladeshi citizens in Indo Bangla border.

I thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely yours,

William Nicholas Gomes

William’s Desk

www.williamgomes.org