Felani killing trial to begin

The Border Guard Bangladesh said in a statement on Friday a Bangladeshi team including the girl’s parents and uncle would testify in a court in Cooch Bihar.

The 15-year-old was shot dead by the BSF at Anantapur on Jan 7, 2011. Locals said Felani's father Nurul Islam Nuru hailed from Banarbhita village of Nageshwari and worked in New Delhi.

She was returning to Bangladesh with her father as her marriage had been settled with a local boy.

Nuru, however, managed to cross the barbed wires with a ladder but Felani's clothes got entangled in them. Hearing her screams, the BSF guards gunned her down.

The body of the refugee girl hung from the barbed-wired fence for five hours and she was alive reportedly for at least 4 hours after being shot. Local villagers reported hearing her screaming and asking for water before bleeding to death.

Then the Indians took her down, tied her hands and feet to a bamboo pole and carried her away.

Her body was handed over the next day and buried in the yard at home. The image of her hanging body, in bright red and deep blue dress, sent shockwave across Bangladesh and international media while the social media erupted in anger, forcing India to apologise. The Bangladesh government and several human rights bodies strongly condemned the killing. The BGB had had mounted pressure on the BSF to try the brutal murder. The BGB statement said the Director General of the BSF had promised during a top-level meeting in March to begin trial.