Fear and loathing on the Border

It took only a few seconds for Amiya Ghosh to shoot a 15-year-old girl, Felani who was crossing over a border fence. It took four hours for that 15-year-old girl to bleed to death while dangling upside down from that fence, during which time she asked for water and was not heeded. It took five hours for the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) to finally take her body down off that fence, tying her hands and feet to a bamboo pole and carrying her away, not returning her body to her family until the next day. It took two years to reach a verdict that validated those few seconds of pure inhumanity. The problem here is not just that Amiya Ghosh used disproportionate force, the problem here is a complete failure of humanity on the part of the BSF.

Why did it take two years for BSF to investigate barbaric and often overlooked practices of Border Patrols that allowed this casual collective psychopathy? After two years of supposed fact finding, 'due process,' and other lavish words, all BSF could conclude was that there was no mal-intent, there was nothing wrong with shooting a 15-year-old, nothing wrong with letting her slowly bleed to death on a barbwire fence, nothing wrong at all. So no one should be punished or even reprimanded for shooting Felani whose only crime was to cross over a fence that divides a territory that is so disputed that it requires a juris doctorate to fully comprehend the complexity and absurdity of the dispute.

Bangladesh and India share 4,095-km-long border, of which Tripura shares 856-km, West Bengal 2,216 km, Meghalaya 443 km, Mizoram 318 km, and Assam 262 km. Most of the borders are now fenced and barb-wired, displacing people who have lived on these borders since the conception of India and Pakistan. These borders have always been and always will be hotspots for movement from a stranded cow to a teenager coming home from working or going to school in India. Does that justify lethal and hostile action? Of course not!

International law concerning the matter is quite clear. You cannot just willy-nilly shoot civilians. And domestic laws both in India and Bangladesh are also clear on that same issue. On top of that, military law is very direct and comprehensive about the use of disproportionate force. The mere suggestion of disproportionate use of force on civilian population is not only morally abhorrent but also illegal.

After all the deconstructing and linguistic and legal manoeuvring, due process has to entertain the notion of just action over unjust action. That is the primary role of all laws governed by the notion of justice. Sure, there is some relativity attached to the issue. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, but the killer of a 15-year-old girl is still a killer of a 15-year-old girl. By no moral or legal standards can we suggest that this action was proportionate on the part of Amiya Ghosh.

The brutality that governs the borders between India and Bangladesh is nothing new. We have seen photos of dead Bengalis, dead Indians, tortured BSF men, badly wounded BDR men. But nothing prepares us for the image of Felani hanging, bleeding upside down on that fence as the BSF goes through their routines, a general disconnect from humanity so abrasively present in this situation that you have to question the sheer humanity of the people involved. Then the 'trial' and 'verdict' vindicate that fear and abhorrence to the fundamental cruelty that governs these situations.

India and Bangladesh have never fought a war. And despite conspiracy theorists always conveying how there would be a war, the likelihood of a war between India and Bangladesh is as low as the likelihood of India and Pakistan NOT fighting a war. That being said, 214 people have died in various border skirmishes. And it remains an area of great controversy and discontent among people on both sides of the border.

Should a foreign (Indian) national hang for the death of a Bangladeshi teenager? No. But he should sure spend his life in prison. Felani's mother wants Mr. Ghosh to hang for his crime and she was unequivocal about what the punishment should be. But we cannot give in to our baser instincts, because Amiya Ghosh did the same thing and killed a teenager. This may not be a failure of military tactics to repel riff raffs but it is an embarrassing failure of humanity.

I am writing all this before knowing if the verdict will become final or not, as someone still has to sign off on it. But whether or not the verdict is final does not provide the finality of the situation. It is hard to fathom why a fully armed border guard would open fire on a 15-year-old. It is hard to comprehend what sort of men stood there ignoring the cries of a dying teenager. It is all too hard to fathom. What is not too hard to fathom is that Amiya Gosh failed himself and the fine men of BSF by finding him not guilty failed humanity.

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Jyoti Omi Chowdhury is a war theorist and a visiting researcher at the Center for Sustainable Development, Harvard University.