Cachar Man Dies Near Border, Locals Blame BSF Brutality

Slogans against the Border Security Force (BSF) were raised on Saturday morning (August 2) outside the Katigorah Police Station and Katigorah Circle Office by the locals, as they claim that a patrol team of the BSF guarding the India-Bangladesh International Border in Kinna Khal area of Katigorah had beaten a man to death the previous night.

Tension has gripped Kinna Khal near the India–Bangladesh border in Cachar following the mysterious death of a youth. Hundreds of locals surrounded the Katigorah police station, alleging that the youth had died after being beaten by the BSF.

The deceased has been identified as Nirmal Namasudra, a resident of Saidpur Amtala Bazar in Katigorah. According to the allegations, a BSF patrol team found Namasudra walking on the border road late Friday night and allegedly assaulted him. After the beating, the BSF personnel took the critically injured youth to Katigorah Model Hospital. On Saturday morning, he was shifted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH), where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

Following his death, hundreds of residents from border villages gheraoed the Katigorah Police Station and staged a protest, accusing the BSF of brutality. The incident has triggered unrest in the border belt, with protesters alleging repeated harassment of locals by BSF personnel during night patrols.

A local said, “He is a simple man who lives by himself, he has no family members, cooks his own food and eats. He often walks around the area and lives on the road. His neighbours told us that last night, around 1:30 AM (early morning of Saturday, August 2), he was picked up in a car and was taken away. No one searched for him late at that time, because there was no one in his family. In the morning, we got to know that he was thrown off the border roads, a vehicle belonging to the BSF had thrown him off at that place. He has no enemy. None will beat him. We can say with 100% assurance that this was done by BSF”.

“Every night starting from 11, BSF starts their patrolling and tortures the public. Every other day, we hear information about barbed fences being cut, smuggling and theft activities across the border. There are BSF guards every 50 metres along the border, then how do these incidents happen? They don’t patrol the border; instead, they patrol on the PWD roads 2 to 3 KM inside the border and torture us. Every night, if there is someone fishing, or someone loses their cow and searches, someone comes late from the bazar at night, they use very rough, crude language against us and abuse us in vulgar language. Chandinagar, Saidpur and adjoining areas have been suffering this torture for a long time. We want an investigation into this”, he further added.