8 Indian Security Personnel jailed for torturing Bangladeshi citizen

Eight Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, found guilty of torturing a young Bangladeshi national in West Bengal\'s Murshidabad district, were sent to jail for 89 days, BSF officials said here Wednesday night. The 8 BSF personnel will be in BSF\'s \'quarter guard\' (equivalent of jail) for 89 days and after that they will resume duty, the officials said. The jailing of the BSF personnel came after the force had ordered their court martial for stripping, kicking and beating the Bangladeshi national along the Indo-Bangladesh border. The BSF court of inquiry, which had conducted the court martial proceedings, decided on the jailing of the eight of its personnel, the PTI reported quoting the officials as said. As additional punishment, one of the 8 BSF personnel was demoted from the post of head constable to constable in order to facilitate his jailing as under the BSF rules, a head constable cannot be sent to jail, the officials said. The personnel were found prima facie \'guilty\' after a court of inquiry was conducted into the incident which took place in early February. A mobile phone had captured the video of the torture of the 32-year-old Bangladeshi and the footage had surfaced last month, showing the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers assaulting a 32-year-old Bangladeshi, identified as Abdul Sheikh, a resident of Abasia in Chapainawabganj, who was allegedly smuggling cattles across the border when the BSF troops had intercepted him. The video was aired by several TV channels and by the same day evening, the BSF had suspended the eight personnel of its. The eight personnel belong to the 105th battalion of the Border Guarding Force and the incident took place in its Charmurasi Boundary Outpost in Murshidabad District.