A day after the West Bengal Assembly had passed a resolution against the extension of the territorial jurisdiction of the Border Security Force, senior officials of the force said at a press conference on Wednesday the BSF has no powers of investigation or to register FIRs.
“The apprehensions in certain quarters that the BSF will start meddling with law and order is not correct. We will continue to function in complete synergy with the State police as earlier,” Additional Director General of BSF (East) Y.B. Khurania said in Kolkata.
Mr. Khurania said the powers of the BSF involve search, seizure and arrest and there has been no extension in them. Only the territorial jurisdiction has been increased from 15 km to 50 km. He said the change vide Notification dated 11.10.2021 pertains only to powers conferred upon the BSF under the Criminal Procedure Code 1973, the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Passport Act, 1967.
Asked about the remarks made by Trinamool Congress MLA Udayan Guha that the BSF in the name of searches outrages the modesty of women, Mr. Khurania said, “The BSF is a disciplined force. Any act of misdemeanour is not taken lightly, if proven stringent action is taken. Whenever such an incident takes place, we order inquiries and we also inform the police. We have a zero-tolerance policy on such matters.”
“The BSF has mahila praharis [women guards] in the Eastern Command who are deployed for frisking women. We have CCTVs. It is unfortunate that such allegations are being made.”
The Eastern Theatre of the BSF has six frontier guards on the 4,100-km border with Bangladesh. West Bengal shares about 2,216 km of international border with Bangladesh.
