BSF Allegedly Crosses into Bangladesh and Fires Sound Grenades

Fear continued to grip villagers living along the Lalmonirhat border on Sunday, the second day after members of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly crossed the zero line into Bangladesh and threw a sound grenade at local people. Residents said they were still struggling to overcome the fear caused by the incident.

At a flag meeting between the two border forces on the night of the incident, the BSF reportedly denied throwing a sound grenade at Bangladeshis. Karimul Islam, assistant director (AD-Ops) of Border Guard Bangladesh’s (BGB) Rangpur 61 Battalion (Teesta-2), confirmed that the incident occurred before sunset on Saturday. He said the border situation remained calm.

According to local residents, BSF members crossed about 150 yards into Bangladesh and confronted Bangladeshi workers. When villagers united and chased them with sticks, the BSF personnel threw a sound grenade towards them. The incident spread fear throughout the nearby villages.

According to the BGB and local residents, the incident occurred near Border Pillar No. 837, sub-pillar No. 4. On the Bangladesh side, the area falls under the Bamandol border area of Burimari Union in Patgram upazila, Lalmonirhat. On the Indian side, it is near the BSBari border area in Changrabandha, under Mekhliganj police station in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district.

Several Bangladeshi workers were extracting stones and sand manually from a section of the Saniajan River near the border. At least eight to 10 members of a patrol team from the BSF’s 98th Battalion, stationed at the BSBari camp, entered the river and confronted the workers.

Hearing the workers’ cries, around 15 to 20 local villagers rushed to the spot with sticks and chased the BSF personnel. At one point, the BSF members threw a sound grenade towards the Bangladeshis before quickly crossing the river and returning to Indian territory.

Soon after the incident, BGB personnel from the Burimari company headquarters visited the site. A brief flag meeting between the BGB and BSF was held at the border that night. During the meeting, the BGB protested the alleged border crossing and the use of the sound grenade. The BSF, however, denied the allegations.

Karimul Islam said, “When the BSF obstructed stone extraction, stones were thrown and there was a chase between the two sides. At that time, BSF members threw a sound grenade to frighten the agitated Bangladeshis. However, no one was injured or killed.”

He added that the BGB submitted a formal protest note that night and strongly protested the border crossing and grenade throwing during the flag meeting. The BSF denied the allegations but said it would remain cautious to prevent such incidents in the future.