Bangladesh alleged a 17-year-old agricultural worker was brutally beaten and tortured by the personnel of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday at Betna border in Haripur Upazila district of Bangladesh. Bangladesh forces raised the issue with BSF and also sought a flag meeting on it. 

A report in Dhaka Tribune said a Bangladeshi teenager named Shah Alam was picked by the soldiers of BSF when he was planting paddy in his field near the border. After brutally torturing him, the report alleged, the BSF left him on the Bangladesh side border assuming him dead. 

A commander of BGB confirmed the incident and said soldiers from the Qaulighar camp of BSF were involved in the incident, and they have requested a flag meeting on the same. 

The border killing is one of the thorny issues between the two nations, shadowing the ties. The issue will also be raised during the upcoming visit of Indian Home Secretary Ajay Kuma Bhalla on 27 February. 

The visit comes a month before the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to Bangladesh on March 26-27. Prior to Modi’s visit, both countries have planned four high-level meetings; three at the secretary level and one at the foreign minister-level. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also scheduled to visit Dhaka on 4 March. 

Several bilateral issues will likely come up in the upcoming home secretary-level meet, the most prominent from Bangladesh’s side is the issue of border killings. 

Earlier, the Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Vikram Doraiswamy, said that joint border management, increased economic activities, and better border awareness will help both countries to reach zero border killing situation.   

The meeting is part of a regular mechanism between the two countries to address the bilateral issues. The last such meeting was conducted in Delhi last year. Earlier in December last year, the two-nation also held the director-general level talks of their respective border forces.