BSF jawan killed, 1 injured in firing by Bangladeshi troops along border in West Bengal
Kolkata/New Delhi, Oct 17: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed and another injured on Thursday after a Bangladeshi border guard fired from his AK-47 rifle during a 'flag meeting' along the international border of the two countries in West Bengal, officials said.
The "apparent high handedness" of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops has led to tension between the two sides with BSF chief V K Johri calling up his counterpart Major General Shafeenul Islam over hotline.
The BGB Director General has assured a through probe of the incident, they said.
The relations between the two forces that guard the 4,096-km long international border have been very cordial and no bullet has been fired between them for decades. This incident is an aberration and efforts are being made to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate, official sources said.
The incident has rung an alarm in the top security establishment in New Delhi with the Union home ministry and ministry of external affairs being briefed by the BSF.
Officials said the incident took place under the Kakmarichar border post of the BSF in Murshidabad district around 9 am when a force party approached BGB personnel, standing at a "char" or a riverine in the middle of the Padma river, to resolve an issue linked to Indian fishermen.
They said the trouble started when the BGB personnel held three Indian fishermen who were allowed by the BSF to fish within the International Border, that runs through the middle of the 3-km-wide Padma river.
The river offers a rich catch of the hilsa fish.
A BGB team then allowed two fishermen to go and inform the BSF that the third person has been held by them and that was when the BSF post commander of the 117th battalion, a sub-inspector, took a six-member party on a motor-boat to resolve the issue.
A BGB jawan identified as Sayed fired from behind when the six-member BSF party started to return back on their motor-boat after seeing "aggressiveness" and an intention to "surround" them by the Bangladeshi personnel.
The BGB trooper, they said, fired from his AK-47 rifle and shot BSF head constable Vijay Bhan Singh on his head, while constable Rajvir Yadav sustained bullet injury on his hand.
The BSF jawan died on the boat itself and injured constable Yadav deftly saved the boat from drowning and managed to bring it to the Indian side.
A fisherman, identified as Pranab Mandal of Shirochar village, is stated to be in the custody of the BGB till now.
Senior officials of the border force have reached the spot and are analysing the situation, officials said.
Security has been stepped up all along the Indo-Bangla border in the wake of the incident, an official added.
The two forces meet biannually and the last time the DG-level talks took place between them was in June this year at BGB's headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
