A sub-inspector of the state police in Cooch Behar on Monday filed a complaint against the commanding officer and an inspector of a battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) for “performing patrolling duty” in a general area in Dinhata on Saturday afternoon.
“General area” pertains to a location not close to the border. Hence, it comes under the jurisdiction of state police and not the BSF.
In recent times, this is the first time that a complaint has been filed against the BSF by the state police.
“On June 17, around 2.15pm, when prohibitory orders were in force and scrutiny of nominations of the panchayat polls was going on at Sahebganj in the BDO office of Dinhata-II, some police officers of Sahebganj noticed that a group of BSF personnel boarded down from a jeep with arms and ammunition near the BDO office gate, in the name of performing patrolling duty,” said Sumit Kumar, the superintendent of police of Cooch Behar district.
SP Kumar said that the visiting BSF team belonged to the 129th battalion of the central security force posted in Sahebganj.
“They (the visiting BSF personnel) started misbehaving with the police officers on duty,” Kumar said. “They used abusive language and obstructed the local police from performing official election duty. However, they were informed about the orders of the SDO of Dinhata regarding prohibitory orders (clamped around the BDO office as a venue to file and scritinise nomination papers),” the senior policeman added.
Kumar, the district police chief, said that based on the complaint of the local officer posted at the nomination centre, a specific case has been initiated under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against the supervising officers and jawans of that particular BSF patrolling unit.
Bhaskar Roy, the sub-inspector of police posted in Nayarhat investigation centre, who filed the complaint against the BSF personnel, has specifically mentioned two names.
The two BSF officers mentioned in Roy’s complaint are that of Sanjay Singh, the commanding officer, and Kushal Rawat, an inspector of the battalion.
According to Roy’s complaint, cases have been registered under IPC Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
Over the past few years, prominent faces of the Trinamul-led Bengal government, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, have expressed concern repeatedly over the BSF’s alleged highhandedness in villages near the international border.
Mamata has earlier termed the BSF as “trigger-happy”, with personnel opening fire near border areas that have resulted in people getting killed.
She has also spoken out clearly against the BJP-led Centre’s decision to increase the BSF’s jurisdiction from 15km to 50km within India from zero point.
A senior BSF official said that the charges against the central paramilitary force were not true.
“The facts have been distorted and the charges appear to be politically motivated,” said a statement issued by BSF.
According to him, the BSF team posted in Purba Sahebganj border outpost was patrolling in the general areas of Sahebganj which is around 1.3 kilometres from the international boundary.
“It was a routine operational duty and the team was well within its jurisdiction as BSF now has the power to act up to 50 kilometres inside the country from the international border. In fact, the police officer present there obstructed the BSF party from performing their official duty,” said the statement.