A Border Security Force (BSF) court has jailed eight of its personnel for 89 days for torturing a young Bangladeshi in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, Indian media reported on Wednesday.
The personnel were found prima facie guilty after a court of inquiry was instituted into the incident which took place in early February, a PTI report said.
They can resume duty only after serving the term in BSF's 'quarter guard' – the paramilitary force's version of jail, it said quoting officials of the border guards.
As additional punishment, one of the eight BSF personnel was demoted from the post of head constable to constable in order to facilitate his jailing, since as per the BSF rules, a head constable cannot be sent to jail, an official told PTI.
The jailed BSF personnel are Verendar Tiwari, VS Victor, Dhananjoy Kumar, Anand Singh, Amar Jyoti, Snajeev Kumar, Suresh Chand and Sunil Kumar.
The BSF, widely criticised for killing Bangladeshis along the border, suspended the eight of its personnel on Jan 18 and ordered 'court martial' proceedings against them recently after some Indian TV channels aired a video showing a Bangladeshi man being stripped, kicked and beaten by them.
The video showed three to four personnel, donning BSF-style dark green fatigues, stripping and then beating a lungi-clad man with his hands tied behind his back in the incident that reportedly took place on Dec 9.
Habibur Rahman, 22, son of Saidur Rahman of Satero Rashia under Durlavpur union council of Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj, was the man tortured. He told on Jan 19 that he was tortured by the BSF men while returning to Bangladesh with cattle through Khanpur border of Paba upazila in Rajshahi district on Dec 9 last year.
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Villagers and relatives found nine more bodies floating near the site of a ferry accident in the river Meghna while the fate of at least 16 other missing people still remained uncertain on Thursday.
The death toll climbed to 122 on Thursday morning. Rescuers recovered 112 bodies until Wednesday evening when the official rescue operation was called off following early Tuesday's crash in the district's Gojaria upazila.
Family members and relatives of more than one dozen missing people were scouring the river for their loved ones on Thursday.
Munshiganj's deputy commissioner Mohammad Azizul Alam told that authorities have also kept their eyes open for the missing as he has a list of 16 people still unaccounted for as provided by their family members and relatives.
The passenger ferry, MV Shariatpur-1, carrying more than 250 passengers capsized early Tuesday after colliding with a cargo vessel.
The sunken ferry was salvaged on Wednesday afternoon and later was towed to the shore.
Rescuers called off their operation after they concluded searching 'every corner' of the salvaged ferry, said police superintendent Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan.
Local Coast Guard commander Ferdous Ahmed said identity of the newly found seven bodies could not be confirmed immediately.
Rescue ship Rustam's commander Fazlur Rahman said the salvaged ferry was now under Gojaria Police Station.
Shariatpur assistant superintendent of police (Naria circle) Mohammad Talebur Rahman told that 41 dead bodies have been handed over to their families and relatives until Wednesday.
Three committees have been formed by shipping ministry, BIWTA and the maritime transport directorate to find out the reasons behind the disaster.
The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up in the first hour of trading on Thursday, the last day of the week.
The index started gaining after the day's trading begun, up 74 points, hitting 4,584 points at 12pm.
The first hour's volume of trading was Tk 1.29 billion, with prices of 222 issues rising, 11 falling and three remaining unchanged.
The government will issue licences for new private commercial banks by April, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Thursday.
"The new banks will have to begin their work within six months after getting licences," he told reporters after a meeting with visiting Asian Development Bank vice-president Xiaoyu Zhao.
He would not specify how many banks will get the licences. "The decision on this will be taken at a meeting of the Bangladesh Bank's board. I cannot say anything about this," he said.