INDIA: BSF torture yet another person in West Bengal 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM concerning another case of Border Security Forces (BSF) brutality in West Bengal, India. 60-year-old Ms Rupjan Bewa from the Murshidabad district endured physical assault and injury, outrage to her modesty and verbal abuse from BSF jawans on 21 February 2012 at approximately 5.30pm, losing also personal property, including her voter identity card, and cash amounting to Rs. 3900.00 while under their custody.

The further failure of police personnel at Jalangi Police Station to respond to Ms Rupjan Bewa’s legitimate complaint against the BSF first lodged at 10am on 22 February 2012 and active attempts to distort her report by exploiting her illiteracy reveals a systemic inability to deliver the three purposes of law – to deter such crimes in the future, to punish perpetrators and recompense the victim, and/or to rehabilitate such perpetrators. Such acts are oppressive, patently unjust and contemptible. As such, we urge you to write in to appeal to the relevant authorities to take actions against the BSF personnel responsible for these violations against the Ms Rupjan Bewa’s constitutional and human rights.

CASE NARRATIVE:

An inquiry undertaken by MASUM reveals the following facts.

Ms Rupjan Bewa was suffering from fever and cold on 21 February 2012 and decided to seek treatment through a doctor, Mr Piklu Mondal, at Raipara Market. She deposited her voter identity card at BSF Out-Post No. 2 under Farajipara BSF BOP at about 4.30pm. At about 5.30pm, she returned to the BSF Out-Post to collect her voter identity card but the BSF jawans started to search her person, hitting her all over her body with an iron rod in a cruel and humiliating manner. When the victim protested against such degrading acts, the BSF jawans began pushing and molesting her and a verbally abusing her with profanities. They thrashed her on the ground forcibly and ripped her clothes, injuring her. In the process, Ms Rupjan Bewa lost a gold earring. The medicine she was carrying home and Rs. 3900.00 was also taken from her by the BSF jawans.

The victim went to Jalangi Police Station the next day (22 February 2012) with a written complaint against the BSF jawans who had beaten and robbed her. The complaint had been written by one of her neighbours according to Ms Rupjan Bewa’s account because the victim herself was illiterate. The police officer on-duty at Jalangi Police Station at the time took the complaint from her but requested she bring a fresh one, directing her to Mr Ichahaq Mondal (a tout) sitting near the police station who could take down her statement for her. She followed his instructions and met Mr Ichahaq Mondal, who charged her Rs. 10.00 for writing the report. When the victim submitted this new statement, she asked the same on-duty police officer to return her previous complaint. Not only did he refuse, but he issued her only one GDE entry slip, no. 1316, dated 22 February 2012 and did not explain the contents of the statement that had been officially accepted.

Ms Rujan Bewa later came to hear that Mr Ichahaq Mondal had not written the complaint according to her statement, choosing instead to omit the parts which indicted the BSF jawans for assaulting, molesting and making mischief upon her person. The acceptance of the second “selective” statement, instead of the first, by the police officer on-duty therefore revealed no intention to bring formal charges against the BSF jawans for their acts of cruelty and impunity. By retaining the first statement, the police officer further removes the evidence of Ms Rupjan Bewa lodging such a report in the first place. This is a secondary form of oppression and impunity that precludes the possibility of prosecution of the BSF jawans and the possibility of bringing justice to Ms Rupjan Bewa, who, as an elderly Muslim widow, is unable to stand up for herself in the face of such injustice and brutality.

The victim filed a written report before the Superintendent of Police of Murshidabad on 23 February 2012, disclosing details of the entire incident and the malpractices of the police of Jalangi Police Station. The victim in her complaint demanded proper action be taken against the BSF jawans and the deliberately delinquent police officer at Jalangi Police Station, but there has been no action taken to date. On the same day, the victim received medical treatment from Primary Health Centre, Parshpur Char Colony and the attending doctor recorded the injuries sustained by the victim on her chest and back. She was referred subsequently to Sadhikhan’s Dearh Rural Hospital for further treatment.

The above case highlights several systemic failures in the police administration of Murshidabad and particularly in Jalangi Police Station with regards to this case:
1. The lack of transparency and accountability in the most basic police proceedings, such as taking a statement;
2. The lack of responsiveness of police officers and judiciary to aggrieved locals; and
3. An unwillingness or inability of the justice system to respond to everyday crime against individuals living within their legal and geographical jurisdiction demonstrating fear of, tacit approval of or collusion with violent BSF jawans acting with impunity.

Ms Rupjan Bewa’s rights to “freedom of movement” within the borders of the Indian state, to “liberty and security of person” and against “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” have been infringed and she has exhausted all possible avenues for justice. Although Ms Rupjan Bewa has a right to “effective remedy” by a competent national tribunal she has no practical access to such. These are individual rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the Indian state is signatory to.

Without state intervention or international pressure, the people of Murshidabad, particularly the most vulnerable – the women, the elderly, the widowed, the illiterate and religious minorities – face, for the foreseeable future, continued abuse of their freedoms and physical person and no likelihood for justice to be served to those acting with complete impunity.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The Border Security Act, 1968 and its Rules 1969, regulates the conduct of the BSF. Section 41 (f) of the Act mandates that a BSF officer who commits any offence against the property or person of any inhabitant of, or resident in, the country in which he is serving to be punished with seven years of imprisonment. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 also provides punishment for voluntarily causing hurt or injuries to a person. Section 326 of the Code prescribes punishment by way of imprisonment for a term of ten years to a person who voluntarily causes hurt by dangerous weapons or means. In addition, Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees protection of life and personal liberty of every citizen. There is, however, an obvious lack of discipline and commitment to duty, as well as a culture of violence and impunity, within the BSF. This case once again illustrates how the BSF operates, and is permitted to operate, with impunity and in utter defiance of these three legal documents.

The AHRC has documented substantial number of BSF atrocities in India over the years. AHRC and MASUM have reported in detail over 800 cases of custodial violence committed by the BSF over the past eight years and have called for action on the part of the Indian authorities. The AHRC has noted the absolute impunity with which the BSF acts, a fact evidenced by the lack of disciplinary action taken against their criminal offences by the relevant BSF superiors and police personnel. Critically, many of these cases reveal a troubling unresponsiveness, and sometimes complicity, in parts of the legal system to patent injustices committed against individuals by the BSF. Not only is the legitimacy and integrity of the Indian justice system threatened, but so is its border and national security.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities mentioned below demanding an investigation into this case. Ms Rupjan Bewa must be compensated for the physical injuries and humiliation endured under the BSF jawans as well as under the criminally negligent police officer at Jalangi Police Station. The victim must be assured such senseless acts of violence and impunity will not occur again in the future, or if they do, they will be capably met by proper checks and balances within the justice system.

The AHRC is also writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment calling for further intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

 

 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER