Border Guard Bangladesh denies charge of abducting Indian national

The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has denied kidnapping an Indian national by crossing into Indian territory.

Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed has told bdnews24.com there has been no instance where his force captured any Indian national crossing into the other side of the border.

But if any Indian national crosses the border, he or she is sent back through flag meeting, he added on Monday.

A West Bengal-based human rights body brought the accusation against the BGB that it had “forcibly abducting” an Indian national from his farm land in the state’s Murshidabad district.

Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) in a petition to National Human Rights Commission has said Manojit Mondal was whisked away to Bangladesh by BGB on April 7 when he was working in his farm land in Shibnagar.

The copy of the petition, filed on May 27, was made available to bdnews24.com on Monday.

“It is revealed during the fact-finding that the family of the victim has farming land close to Indo-Bangladesh border in Shibnagar.

“Before entering his farm land, Mondal deposited his voter identity card at Char Rajanagar BSF Border Out-Post (BOP). His name was entered at serial no.75 in the record book at the BOP.

“When he was working in the farm land between 11am and 12 noon, two BGB personnel entered Indian territory and forcibly took him away to Bangladesh.”

The rights body sought the intervention of the NHRC to ensure safe return of the victim.

“The concerned authorities must be directed to take immediate action so that the victim can return home safely as soon as possible,” it said.

The rights body further claims that such incident was possible because the BSF was posted “far inside the Indian territory from the actual border”, leaving a vast area unprotected.