Hindu Girl, Facing Problems After Bangladesh Regime Change, Shot Dead While Escaping To India Via Tripura

Border Security Force (BSF) personnel patrol along the India-Bangladesh border fencing at Dharmanagar, Tripura. (Image: PTI)

The BSF has said that the girl was shot dead by the BGB while she was trying to cross the border with her parents.

Indian officers handed the body of a 14-year-old girl back to Bangladesh on Thursday after she was found shot dead near the border, with a top Indian official vowing to stop “infiltration”.

A report by Times of India said that the girl was allegedly killed by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while trying to cross the border with her parents.

Bangladeshi police have accused Indian officers of killing the girl, who was shot in the chest, according to Binoy Bhushon Roy, a police officer in the Moulvibazar border district, who spoke to news agency AFP.

The report said India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) discovered the body near the zero point of the India-Bangladesh border in Kailashahar, a town in Unakoti district on Monday. She was identified as 16-year-old Swarna Das.

It also said that Swarna, along with her parents Rebati Das and Rani Das, attempted to cross over to Tripura thrice but failed. “Swarna and her parents had been facing problems in Bangladesh since regime change,” the report by the Times of India said.

When they attempted to cross the border near Pillar No. 57, taking advantage of the BSF’s absence at night, the BGB opened fire, the report further added citing officials.

“Swarna was killed by BGB and after all the formalities, we have handed over her body to the family through BGB in Manu check post on Tuesday,” a BSF official told the newspaper.

Neighbourly relations have been strained by the student-led uprising that toppled Bangladesh’s leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5.

Since Hasina’s ousting, Indian security forces have detained or sent back dozens of Bangladeshis accused of trying to sneak across the border.

Bangladesh is almost entirely encircled by India, and their shared border stretches more than 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles).

Last month, security forces from India and Bangladesh had a tense confrontation over the construction of a fence supposedly meant to keep cattle from straying over the border.