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Journalism of Courage
A wave of anger swept through Ranchi and people collected in large numbers today for the cremation of BSF assistant commandant Jiwan Kumar who, while trying to secure the release of a villager on Tripura’s border with Bangladesh, was dragged across the zero line by men of the Bangladesh Rifles, tortured and killed last Saturday.
Kumar hailed from Sinduwar Toli in Ranchi and leaves behind his aged parents, wife and a three-month-old daughter.
Confirming the incident which took place at Lankamura in west Tripura, BSF Additional Director General S I S Ahmed, who arrived in Agartala today, said: ‘‘This killing is an act of betrayal by the BDR and is a severe setback for relations with Bangladesh.’’
Two BSF jawans were injured in the incident.
BSF DIG R K Choudhury, who was in Ranchi for the cremation, said that BDR personnel took away Ram Dhan Pal of Lankamura after his cattle strayed into Bangla territory.
Kumar went to the zero line to secure Pal’s release but was encircled by BDR men who dragged him away. Recalling the incident, one of Kumar’s colleagues said: ‘‘He was stripped and brutally beaten. They even struck him with an axe before shooting him. You could make it out from the injuries on his back. The body was later thrown near the border.’’
Two BSF jawans, Venu Kumar and K K Sudershan, who had accompanied Kumar, managed to escape. Pal is still missing.
Kumar’s father Shashi Bushan Sinha, who retired as a professor from Ranchi university’s economics department, was inconsolable: ‘‘My son is gone, now I will have to take care of Aditi, his daughter. She was born just three months ago. When he last came home, he wouldn’t let go of her.’’
