INDIA: Alleged extra-judicial killing of a civilian by Border Security Force officers in West Bengal

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, our partner organization in West Bengal. It concerns the enforced disappearance of a civilian at the hands of Border Security Force (BSF) officers at the Indo-Bangladesh border. In the span of a decade, there have been over 1,000 civilian deaths at the hands of BSF personnel in this area. It is crucial that the State take cognizance of this grave and persistent violation of human rights in the region and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to address the issues highlighted within this Urgent Appeal.

Case Narrative:

The AHRC has taken note of the reports received from the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, on the Indo-Bangladesh border. It is an area which is heavily patrolled and which has a heavy BSF presence. The information contained herein has been provided by our partner organisation, MASUM, which documents human rights violations against marginalized persons in West Bengal. It has a large database of the torture, deaths and disappearances of civilians in border regions at the hands of BSF personnel.

Bablu Sheikh(45), an agricultural labourer and the sole bread-winner of his family, was reported missing at 8 pm on 2 June 2017 by his wife. In the wife’s written complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Murshidabad, she stated that she suspected BSF personnel of killing him and disposing of his body in the adjacent river to conceal the murder. To supplement his meagre income, Bablu sometimes acted as a courier for cattle smugglers, transporting cattle across the border to Bangladesh. On the night he went missing, he had gone to smuggle cattle in an area near BSF Outpost no.7 and 8 under Harudanga BSF Border Outpost (BOP) Camp. He did not return home after that night, and his family has no information about his whereabouts.

A few days later, villagers noticed a human body floating on the river close to the BSF camps. They informed Sheikh’s family members, suspecting that it was their relatives’ corpse. BSF personnel restrained people from going near the body. They claimed that the body could not be the victim’s, since they had not recorded any instance of the victim visiting the border on that night. The police were informed of the same, but did not visit the site, allowing the body to decompose and to be eaten by dogs and vultures.
Background:

The torture and murder of civilians around the Indo-Bangladesh border has taken place consistently since its inception. Over ten years the Human Rights Watch has documented more than 1,000 civilian deaths at the hands of BSF personnel. Yet not a single official has been arrested or prosecuted for any of these deaths, due to the general immunity they enjoy. A trial may commence only after a sanction is granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Most instances of extra-judicial killings have taken place when the victim was engaged in petty crimes, such as cattle smuggling, as in this case, or border-jumping. Human Rights Watch has noted hundreds of such disappearances wherein cattle-smugglers have been intercepted by BSF personnel, and subsequently murdered. Most of these persons are not armed, and do not pose a real threat to the personnel. Odhikar, a Bangladesh-based organization which documents human rights violations in the country, has noted the alarming rise in the killings at the border. They often involved Bangladeshi citizens as well. In 2011, 15-year-old Felani Khatum was shot while trying to cross the border into India; her body hung on the fence for five hours until BSF personnel removed it.

Enforced disappearances are shockingly common elsewhere as well, particularly in areas in which the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is in place. Amnesty International noted that large numbers of civilians go missing in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east region of India. In disputed territories, dissenting citizens are murdered with impunity, and small crimes are disproportionately punished.

India has signed but not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and therefore is not bound to incorporate its principles into domestic law. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Voluntary Disappearances has named India as a country of interest for the purpose of gathering empirical data on the issue. The request to visit is still pending approval. But the fact that the Working Group has evinced interest in viewing the situation first-hand is proof that the issue of enforced disappearances is significant.

Additional Information:

In the judgment of Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of UP & Ors. [(2014) 2 SCC 1], it was held that the Police must mandatorily register an FIR after receiving information which discloses the commission of a cognizable offence. Murder being a cognizable offence under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Superintendent violated the Law by omitting to register an FIR upon receiving the written complaint from the victim’s wife.

Under Article 21 of the Constitution, “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, except according to a procedure established by the Law”; the term ‘procedure established by Law’ has been interpreted to include the elements of due process in the case Selvi v. State of Karnataka [AIR 2010 SC 1974]. Extra-judicial killings by law enforcement personnel are in violation of the principles of due process, which include a fair trial before an impartial judge. The conduct of BSF personnel is also against the 2016 Supreme Court judgment in Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) & Anr. Vs. UOI & Ors [Writ petition (Criminal) No. 129 of 2012].

Suggested Action:

It is apparent that BSF personnel have been involved in mass human rights violations in border areas, and in the disappearance of Mr. Bablu Sheikh. Please write letters to the following authorities calling on them to investigate this case, and to address the numerous enforced disappearances in the area. 

The AHRC is writing separate letters to Mr. Nils Melzer,the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Dr. Agnes Callamard, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Ms. Houria Es-Slami, the Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

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