Border killings rising again as BSF neglects effective measures: MSF

Incidents of killing and injuring Bangladeshis along the Bangladesh-India border are rising again due to the Indian Border Security force, or BSF, refusing to adopt safe and effective measures, according to a Bangladeshi right organisation.  

The Sultana Kamal-led Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF), which tracks border killings, said that four Bangladeshi nationals were killed and five others sustained bullet injuries in BSF firing along the border in the outgoing month of March.

In its monthly report, the MSF said the number killed was the same in February.

Besides, an elderly person was injured in a grenade explosion on Zero line along Bangladesh-Myanmar frontier under Naikhangchhory upazila in Bandarban district during the period from March 1 to March 31. One youth was injured in a land mine explosion in the same frontier during the period.

Besides, a youth who was injured during a firing reportedly by an armed man who was trying to enter Bangladeshi territory through Ukhia frontier in Cox‍‍`s Bazar district, also succumbed to his injuries in March. For these reasons, people of frontier areas have been panicked, the MSF says.

MSF thinks that the government has failed to protest border killings, which raises questions among the people. “Such types of incidents on the frontier are never expected anyway.”

Apart from border killings and tensions, MSF reported that twelve people died in prison custody during March. Of them, 11 were taken to the Medical College Hospital outside the jail where they were declared dead.

The MSF prepared the report based on information published in various media and also collected information through its own sources.
According to the report, members of law enforcement agencies posing as policemen picked up three people during this period. Later, they were shown arrested in cases.

It said violence against women and children, including rape, gang rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence and suicides, declined slightly. 

Around 247 incidents of violence against women and children were reported in the month - 38 less than in February.

Among those incidents, 38 were rapes, 9 were organised or gang rapes, and one was incident of murder after rape. Among the victims, two were disabled women.

At least 40 journalists faced different troubles during this period in fifteen incidents. Among them, 10 students were suspended from Dhaka International University (DIU) for forming a journalism committee on the campus and conducting campus reporting. Besides, three received threats, eight were assaulted, and 17 journalists were attacked while doing their professional duties in March 2024.

Five incidents of minority torture were reported during the period in March.

According to MSF statistics, casualties from mob beatings increased abnormally this month. Nine people were killed and eight others were critically injured in seven incidents of mob beating in March.

Of them, four were handed over to police.