Thakurgaon Firing: Complaints against BGB men dismissed

A Thakurgaon court yesterday dismissed the complaints lodged by family members of the three villagers killed in a BGB firing in Haripur upazila's Baharampur village in the district on February 12. 

Magistrate Arifur Rahman of the Judicial Magistrate Court-1 passed the dismissal order under section 203 of the criminal code, which empowers a magistrate to dismiss a complaint if in their judgment they do not see sufficient ground for proceeding. 

The dismissal comes after Haripur police submitted a report before the court saying the BGB had filed two separate cases on the same incident with Haripur Police Station before the three complaints had been submitted, said plaintiffs' lawyer Nurul Islam. 

The court on March 12 ordered the officer-in-charge of the police station to record the complaints as cases, if no other case had been recorded in this regard.

Judicial Magistrate Farhana Khan also asked the OC to submit a report on the matter on April 11.

On February 12, Border Guard Bangladesh men opened fire on the villagers following a scuffle. The incident left three dead -- Md Nabab, 29, Sadek, 50, and Md Joynul, 12 -- and at least 18 others injured. 

Two days later, BGB filed two separate cases against some 275 dwellers of Baharampur village, including the two dead, in connection with the incident.

Afterwards, Joynul's father Nur Islam, Nabab's father Nazrul Islam and Sadek's elder brother Abdul Baset filed the complaints with the court on February 24, accusing Lt Col Tuhin Mohammad Masud, 33, Nayek Subedar Md Ziaur Rahman, 35, Nayek Md Sabullah, 32, Nayek Md Delwar Hossain, 30, Sepoy Md Habibur Rahman, 30, Sepoy Md Mursalin, 32, and Sepoy Md Bayrul Islam, 28.

Following the court order, Nur Islam, father of victim Joynul, told this correspondent that they had been deprived from getting justice. “We will go to the upper court for getting proper justice,” he said. 

Plaintiffs' lawyer Nurul Islam also expressed his disappointment at the order and said they would take up the issue with a higher court.