India compensates for BSF killings

India's home ministry has paid 500,000 rupees each to the kin of two men killed by the BSF three years ago in West Bengal's Murshidabad district following a directive by the National Human Rights Commission.

Samir Purkayasthabdnews24.com
Published : 19 August 2013, 04:58 AM
Updated : 19 August 2013, 04:58 AM

The NHRC closed the case in July after the home ministry paid compensation to the victims' families.

Miltan Sheikh and Santu Sheikh were killed while allegedly smuggling cattle across the India-Bangladesh border early morning on December 28, 2010.

Kirity Roy, Secretary of human rights group MASUM lodged a complaint with the NHRC about the BSF excesses and calling for punishment of those border guards responsible for shooting the two dead.

While accepting that Miltan and Santu were part of a group of cattle smugglers intercepted by BSF, Kirity Roy alleged that both had been killed in captivity.

File Photo

The BSF had said its constable fired in self-defence after the cattle smugglers attacked him with lathis and sharp weapons.
NHRC, however, rejected BSF's claim, as the BSF could not furnish any proof of injury — treatment record or wound certificate — of its troopers who fired on the victims.
NHRC held that Miltan and Santu were smuggling cattle and had, therefore, broken the law.
"But they had posed no threat to the life of the constable who opened fire at a very close range, and clearly shot to kill them which amounted to a grievous violation of human rights," NHRC said in a statement.
The postmortem report showed Miltan and Santu were shot once through the skull. "The entry wounds were blackened and burnt, confirming that the shots were fired at contact range," NHRC held.
The men were shot at close range, but there was no evidence that they inflicted injury on the constable. So the right of private defence as invoked by BSF did not apply in this case, NHRC said.
BSF argues that such judicial orders hurt the morale of the force deployed on the ground in difficult conditions. "This will deter our troops to be proactive and take risks," said a senior BSF officer, but he was not willing to be named.
Human rights activists welcomed the order. "There are ample instances where BSF acts in absolute disregard for the human rights of people living along the border. This is not killing in combat or self-defence," said Suhas Chakma, director, Asian Centre for Human Rights.