BSF ‘shoots’ two Indians, dumps them inside Bangladesh

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) shot two citizens of the country claiming they were “illegal Bangladeshi cow traders” along the Kurigram district border on Sunday noon, and then dumped them inside Bangladesh territory in an unconscious state, according to one of the victims.

Ismail Hossain, 35, alleged that the BSF fired on them even after they had verbally asserted that they were Indian citizens, and noted that their cows were legal assets.

He was speaking to reporters while undergoing treatment at the Rangpur Medical College Hospital on Monday.

While he was speaking, different parts of Ismail’s body were ridden with pellet bullets, and his right hand was bleeding despite a bandage already being applied on the injury spot.

The other victim, Abdul Alim, 39, sustained worse injuries on body parts including his belly, and was unable to speak.

Both the victims hail from Borokalia village in Sukhcar, South Shalmara-Manakchar district of Assam, India.

On Monday noon, Rangpur Metropolitan Police (RMP) filed a case against the two Indians over illegal trespass. RMP Detective Branch (DB) Sub-Inspector Abu Said Babla filed the lawsuit, and DB Sub-Inspector Pranay Krishna is the investigating officer.

RMP DB Deputy Commissioner Sanatan Chakraborty said both the Indians were undergoing treatment at Rangpur Medical College Hospital. He claimed that the BSF shot them along the border in Kurigram’s Ulipur village, suspecting they were Bangladeshi “cow smugglers.”

According to Ismail, he and Abdul Alim were attending to their grazing cattle at a charland near the Narayanpur land port in South Shalmara-Manakchar district of Assam.

Around 2pm on Sunday, a team of BSF spotted them from a distance and hurled expletives, alleging they were “illegal Bangladeshi cow traders.”

The two replied they were law-abiding Indian citizens, but the BSF fired on them anyway, alleged Ismail. He remained unconscious for an hour, and when he regained consciousness he found himself across the border inside Bangladesh, Ismail said.

Locals rescued them from an area in Doikhawa village, Saheber Alga Union, Ulipur village of Kurigram and rushed them to the local “Jatrapara health centre,” where the facilities were inadequate. Afterwards, locals admitted them to a private clinic in Rangpur, and left them around 9pm on Sunday.

Meanwhile, police received intelligence about the Indian trespass in Kurigram.