Cry Justice

Seven years of Felani killing

- Reaz Ahmad

Come January 18 Indian Supreme Court will hear Felani killing case for the third time. In past two years the court could manage hearing the case for twice only. In the last hearing the court sought reports of previous probes carried out in this regard. The case of the death of a 15year Bangladeshi girl, Felani Khatun, in the firing of India’s border security force (BSF) reached to this far after BSF commissioned investigations have been exhausted. BSF repeatedly failed to find any fault of its jawan/s and their superiors.

Felani’s death and subsequent image of her upside-down body hanging on the barbwire on Indo-Bangla border fence in early 2011 hogged international news headlines. After being shot by a BSF man on Kurigram border on her homecoming from New Delhi, Felani’s body was left hanging on the barbed wire fence for over five hours in January cold. Felani was returning to Bangladesh along with her father as her marriage was arranged in the country. Felani and her father were staying in Indian capital and were trying to cross the border illegally by a ladder.

While crossing, Felani’s dress got stuck in the barbed wire of the border. Panic-stricken, she started screaming as BSF opened fire on her. After she was shot, she begged for water till her death but nobody could reach her due to fear of being shot by BSF. The main accused of the killing Amiya Ghosh and his superior officers have not been convicted to date as Felani’s parents’ long wait for justice passed yet another year and her seventh death anniversary passed in relative quietness on January 7.