Border Force Hands Over Jawan To Police For Raping Woman In Custody

A BSF personnel has been arrested for allegedly raping a Bangladeshi woman, arrested while illegally crossing over into India, on the pretext of interrogating her inside a camp of the paramilitary force in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, police said on Friday.

Acting on a complaint lodged by the survivor at Gaighata police station, the accused BSF sub-inspector was arrested on Thursday, a senior police officer said.

"The incident took place on the night of July 27. After it came to light, the BSF itself handed over the jawan to the local police and placed him under suspension," a senior officer of the paramilitary force said.

The survivor and another woman, both hailing from Bangladesh's Gopalganj, were arrested while illegally crossing over into India.

As per the survivor's police complaint, the two women were arrested by personnel of the 158th battalion of the BSF while they were illegally entering India through the Jhaudanga border.

"She has alleged that the BSF personnel took both of them to the Kharer Math camp of the paramilitary force for questioning. When nobody was around, the accused trooper raped the woman on the pretext of interrogating her," the police officer said, quoting the FIR.

The BSF personnel has been charged under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and produced before the Bangaon Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, which remanded him to two days in police custody, he said.

The woman's confidential statement has been recorded by the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC, and medical tests were conducted on her, the officer added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)