Killing of Felani Khatun | |
Location: | India-Bangladesh border |
Date: | 7 January 2011 |
Type: | Murder |
Fatalities: | 1 |
Perpetrator: | India Border Security Force (BSF) |
Felani Khatun (Bengali: ফেলানী খাতুন) was a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl who was shot and killed by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on 7 January 2011, along the Bangladesh–India border.[1] [2] A photograph showing Felani Khatun's dead body hangingon a border fence made of barbed wire was picked up by international media, and the publication of these photographs evoked international concern.[3] The photo had created an "uproar" in Bangladesh.[4] After a lot of back and forth between different courts within India, the case is still pending for final judgement as (MSM) a human rights activist platform in India has launched a petition in the country's Supreme Court seeking justice and compensation for the killing of Felani Khatun.[5] Lawyer and Human Rights Activist SM Abraham Lincoln who has been the lawyer for Felani Khatun's Family on Bangladesh's side for the last 11 years, believes that after the COVID-19 pandemic the process has lost momentum.[6] This Case is significant because of the international attention that it gathered and also paints a vivid picture of the length of struggle that people living in borderline Bangladesh have to go through.