India on Thursday said it ordered a full investigation into the recent torture on a Bangladeshi by their Border Security Force men and the authorities of the paramilitary frontier force took ‘prompt actions’ in suspending the personnel concerned.
‘BSF has taken prompt action to suspend BSF jawans involved in the incident and full investigations have been ordered into the matter,’ a spokesman of the India’s external affairs ministry said in a brief comment as video footage of the torture posted online sparked wide reactions in Bangladeshi as well as Indian media.
His comments came as media reports said BSF already suspended eight of its soldiers after the video, showing a man being stripped, kicked and beaten in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district along the Bangladesh-India border, was posted.
Several leading newspapers including the Hindu, The Times of India and Hindustan Times published prominently the news item while Indian television channels, including NDTV and Times Now repeatedly aired the footage that showed three to four BSF personnel beating up a man and tying him with sticks.
The Hindu reported that BSF suspended the men by late on Wednesday and they were identified as constables Virender Tiwari, VS Victor, Dhananjay Kumar, Anand Singh, Amar Jyoti, Sanjeev Kumar, Suresh Chand and Sunil Kumar.
‘The eight personnel have been identified and suspended,’ Deputy Inspector General at BSF headquarters Vikas Chandra told the newspaper.
BSF public relations officer T Acharya earlier said the news video clipping showing ‘violent and illegal conduct by three-four men in uniform in the area of Murshidabad, West Bengal has been taken note of by BSF headquarters.’
‘A detailed staff court-of-inquiry has been ordered to fix responsibility and take action under BSF Act and rules for this misconduct,’ he said.
Acharya added that the commandant of 105 Battalion, to which the suspended personnel belong, was been asked to immediately visit the spot and ascertain full details of the incident.
The Hindu termed the video as ‘shocking’ and said the footage of the suspected cattle rustler, stripped, bound and beaten up allegedly by BSF jawans in the Raninagar police station area near the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district has created uproar.’
According to the NDTV, the grainy video was downloaded from the mobile phone of a BSF personnel who had given it to a mobile shop owner for downloading ringtone and the mobile shop owner made a CD of the video and sent it to news channels and rights groups.
