BSF Brutality on Tripura Villagers Leaves 11 Injured

Agartala, March 1, 2020:

Late on Friday night, residents of a small village in Tripura were left rattled when hundreds of Border Security Force (BSF) jawans turned up seeking to bust a narcotics lab. In the confusion that ensued, several locals were reportedly thrashed by the jawans.

The operation rattled the entire village of Kamalnagar located under Boxanagar sub-division of Sepahijala district on Friday night. Locals have complained that a number of houses were, allegedly, ransacked, people were beaten up during the operations which prompted the villagers to lodge an FIR with the local police station.

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According to reports, the five hour long operation of the BSF personal had been launched to track a large consignment of narcotic drugs that was reportedly stored at the residence of a certain Almin Miah.

"BSF personnel of 74 Battalion gheraoed the entire village with about 20 vehicles lining up one after another leaving the entire locality in a state of shock. The sudden arrival of such a huge contingent of forces triggered a shade of tension all across the locality. The BSF people first entered to the house of Almin Miah and launched a search operation. The operation that was started on 11:30 at night lasted till 4:30 in the morning", said an eyewitness, who wished to remained anonymous.

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However, the BSF failed to trace anything illegal during this entire operation. Instead of leaving, the BSF reportedly assaulted some of the locals. An elderly person with two children are among the injured and have been referred to the Hapania hospital in Agartala for better treatment. Several others were taken to the local hospital for treatment, the eye witness informed this reporter.

Most of the attacked persons accused that they had been thrashed by the BSF during the operation. “We have been subjected to inhuman torture by the BSF. They just thrashed everyone whoever come to resist them. There are women residing in houses...” said one of the attacked persons.

Meanwhile, one Faruqe Hossain lodged an FIR with the local police station against the BSF.

A source in the BSF, in its defence, has said, “It was revealed that he (Miah) is a major smuggler of narcotics from the area. The BSF was informed that he was holding a huge amount of narcotics. The DRI (Revenue Intelligence) went to his house but the information was leaked. He managed to shift the narcotics. He was being questioned about the location of narcotics”.

Meanwhile, sources in the police have said that they have started probing the matter with the initial inputs. Some of the higher officials of the Battalion were also asked to co-operate in the investigation.

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