APR 21 (V7N) - A group of shepherds were grazing more than 200 cows in a 60-bigha pasture in Charkhanpur, a border area of ​​Rajshahi. The cows entered the Indian border while eating grass. When the cows entered far inside the Indian border, the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) saw them and took pictures, then sent the news to the Border Security Force (BGB) of Bangladesh. Upon receiving the news, the in-charge of the Charkhanpur camp quickly brought the cows back to the Bangladesh border. He took action against the farmers and collected a fine from them in the name of the farmer. The farmer's owner was informed the next day.

Last Wednesday (April 15), allegations of such irresponsibility were made against the Charkhanpur BGB camp on the other side of the Padma River, near Rajshahi city.


When media workers arrived there on Friday (April 17), locals told the truth about the incident. They said that most of the people in the village depend on agriculture. Each house has from 5 to 100 cows. The cows graze on the char land all day long; about 70 percent of the milk demand of Rajshahi city is met from this village.

They said, the people of the Char who are insecure and deprived of civil rights live a helpless life. Even then, BGB members torture them under various pretexts. BGB members extort money from us under various pretexts. The day before yesterday, when a group of shepherds from the village crossed the border without realizing it, they were tortured and extorted 100 taka per cow.
The owners of the cows who were affected by the incident, including Merajul, Sijan, Chana, Huma, Anarul and Azim, said that they were ordinary farmers and did not understand the rules and regulations of the border. But the BGB should have warned us in advance. However, they did not do so, but later fined the cows. Not only did they not get tired of catching the cows, the BGB also took a large amount of money from them (the cow owners).

Meanwhile, the cow owners claim that they gave the money directly to the BGB members. However, the BGB is saying that the money went to the lessee of the cattle shed, which has raised new questions.
Sajjad Hossain, the owner of the quarry, said, "I was not at the scene, I did not take their money, the people of the village calculated and gave me 12,300 taka."

Sources say that although the incident took place on the 15th, a total of around Tk 20,000 was fined against at least 180 of the cows on Thursday afternoon, the next day, April 16. However, the BGB says that a fine of Tk 12,000 was collected for 120 cows. Of which Tk 8,000 was deposited in the government treasury.

Subedar Saiful Islam, in-charge of the camp, admitted the truth of the incident. Everything was done according to the rules. He also said that the higher authorities are aware of the matter. The fine was entered in the book on Friday. When asked why the incident was entered on Wednesday on Friday, he did not give any answer.

The locals have raised questions about why the BGB, which is responsible for regular patrolling and surveillance at the border, did not know about the matter in advance? Why did their activities become visible only after the BSF informed them? What would they have done if the smugglers had entered Bangladesh with drugs and weapons instead of cows? The incident happened again on the afternoon of the 15th, and the fine was collected on the 16th. When the incident came to the attention of the media, the incident was officially recorded on the afternoon of the 17th. The victims demanded that the higher authorities of the BGB investigate the matter and take necessary action.

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