Bangladesh protests to India over teen's 'ruthless' killing

The protest came after Indian officers handed the body of the 13-year-old girl back to Bangladesh

Published: Thu 5 Sep 2024, 9:17 PM

Photo: AFP

Bangladesh lodged a formal protest with India on Thursday over the killing of a teenage girl found shot dead near the border, the foreign ministry said, calling it a "ruthless act".

Neighbourly relations have been strained by the student-led uprising that toppled Bangladesh's former leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5.

Bangladesh "strongly protested and condemned such ruthless acts" in a protest note sent to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, according to the foreign ministry.

It urged India to "stop repetition of such heinous acts".

The protest came after Indian officers handed the body of the 13-year-old girl back to Bangladesh. Indian officials had earlier said the girl was aged 14.

A top Indian official had earlier vowed to stop "infiltration" across the border.

Indian security forces have detained or sent back dozens of Bangladeshis accused of trying to sneak across the border since Hasina was ousted.

Indian border officers say the teenage girl was found with a bullet wound during a routine patrol in Tripura state on Sunday but gave no further details.

Bangladesh accused India's border police of killing the girl.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of India's Assam state, said police managed on Thursday to "push back" five more Bangladeshis who had tried to cross.

"We are committed to an infiltration-free Assam," Sarma said in a statement, praising police for a "constant vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh border".

Bangladesh is almost entirely encircled by India and their shared border stretches more than 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles).

Security forces from India and Bangladesh had a tense confrontation last month over the construction of a fence supposedly meant to keep cattle from straying over the border.

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