Bangladeshi teen Felani’s father moves Indian SC seeking justice

The father of Felani Khatun, the Bangladeshi teen who was shot dead by Border Security Force along the border, has moved the Indian Supreme Court seeking justice after a BSF court cleared its trooper of the killing.

Kurhigram Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 August 2015, 05:03 PM
Updated : 14 August 2015, 05:25 PM

West Bengal-based rights group MASUM is assisting in the endeavour by Dhaka-based Ain-o-Salish Kendra (ASK).

ASK’s Senior Deputy Director Tipu Sultan said Felani’s father filed the plea on Friday.

“MASUM’s Executive Director Kirity Ray has informed me that the court has accepted the case,” he told bdnews24.com.

BSF’s Choudhuryhat camp troopers shot dead 15-year-old Felani on Jan 7, 2011.

She was crossing the barbed-wire fencing at Anantapur border point in Kurhigram’s Phulbarhi Upazila on her way back to Bangladesh.

Her motionless body, dangling on the fence, created huge uproar in both Bangladesh and India.

A special BSF court tried its 181 Battalion constable Amiya Ghosh, the only accused in the killing, in 2013.

But it let him off on Sept 6, 2013, saying the evidence was 'inconclusive and insufficient'.

A retrial, ordered by the BSF chief, also acquitted Ghosh of the charges on July 2 this year.

Felani’s father Nurul Islam requested MASUM through ASK to take necessary steps to ensure justice on July 8.

Kurhigram’s Public Prosecutor Abraham Lincoln said, “We hope Felani’s father will get justice from the Indian Supreme Court.”