Three persons were killed in alleged firing by the Border Security Force (BSF) in the small hours of Friday at a village along the India-Bangladesh frontier in Cooch Behar district.
The incident has reignited a long-standing debate on whether the BSF often resorts to strong-arm tactics while dealing with the challenges in border areas.
Officially, the BSF has not commented on the firing. Senior BSF officers said on the condition of anonymity that those dead were cattle rustlers, of whom two were Bangladesh nationals.

The firing took place at Satbhandari village near the West Chamta border outpost between 3am and 4am, according to police. The village on the border is near Sitai police station in Cooch Behar.

Senior district police officers visited the spot to mollify angry villagers.

Sumit Kumar, the district police chief, said BSF personnel posted at the West Chamta border outpost noticed movements along the international border early on Friday.
The personnel challenged the men but were allegedly confronted by around 50 cattle smugglers, Kumar said, recounting what BSF officers had told him during his visit to the spot of firing.

Kumar said the pilferers attacked the BSF personnel with bricks and machetes, prompting the men in uniform to open fire. BSF sources said the force had no option but to fire.

“Two bodies were found lying on the Bangladesh side of the border fence. They seemed to have been hit by bullets. They are reportedly Bangladeshi nationals. Their identities are yet to be established,” Kumar said.

Another body was found in a village on the Indian side of the border. Based on the preliminary investigation, we can say that all three have died in the course of the same incident,” the Cooch Behar police chief said.

The Indian who has died has been identified as Prakash Barman, 35, a resident of Chamta village. Chamta is around 1km from the firing spot. He was hit by a bullet in the head. The two other bodies have not been claimed by anyone yet.

Prakash’s family and neighbours said he was a “dangowal”, or cowherd in Rajbanshi language, and was not involved in cattle rustling.

Some people had come to his house last night and he had gone out with them. Today morning, his family members came to know that his body had been found. We fail to understand why the BSF shot him in the head? Also, if he had gone to the border, why was his body found in Chamta, which is 1km from the fence?” said a neighbour.
Prakash is survived by his parents and wife.

Jagadish Barma Basunia, the Trinamul MLA of Sitai, also expressed discontent.
“The victim was a daily-wage earner and he used to also work as a cowherd at times.… We want a complete investigation to know how he died. There have been earlier instances of BSF personnel entering villages that are not on the border and resorting to similar atrocities. The district police should find out the truth,” Basunia said.
Later in the day, BSF sources said personnel had recovered sharp weapons and two hand grenades from the firing spot. They said a BSF jawan had suffered injuries in the “attack by the smugglers”.