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Debjit Mukherjee, North 24 Parganas: Two BSF personnel were arrested on Friday night for allegedly raping a woman near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Bagda, North 24 Parganas, said a senior official of the paramilitary organisation on Saturday.
The suspects, identified as S P Chero, an assistant sub-inspector of the 68 battalion, and constable Altab Hossain, were handed over to the West Bengal Police for further legal action.
The suspects have been suspended and a court of inquiry has been ordered against them, said an official of the South Bengal frontier, BSF.
The incident took place early Friday near Bagda border outpost in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district when the woman was reportedly trying to enter Bangladesh from India.
In her complaint to the police, the woman alleged she and her family were trying to cross the border through Jitpur at Bagda border on Thursday night after they learnt that one of their relatives had fallen ill when the two BSF personnel allegedly dragged her to an abandoned place and raped her.
The incident triggered a war of words between the ruling TMC in West Bengal and the BJP.
Coming down heavily on the alleged rape, TMC MP Kakoli Gosh Dastoidar tweeted, “A homemaker was sexually assaulted by 2 BSF men & was threatened to not raise her voice. This is the horrific reality of BJP’s enhanced jurisdiction! PM @narendramodi, who will take accountability for Rakshaks becoming Bhakshaks?”
The BJP said the TMC should not tarnish the image of the entire force because of such isolated incidents.
“Such comments from the TMC are unacceptable. You cannot malign the entire force because of such isolated incidents. The law will take its course if anyone has committed a crime,” said BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya.
BJP MP Dilip Ghosh also took to his Twitter account and said, “Earlier, there were several such allegations raised against army jawans in Kashmir. Most of them were false allegations. Do not know if this allegation is true or false? If true, it is a heinous crime. Appropriate punishment should be given to the perpetrators.”
