BARDIYA, Sept 2: Last Sunday, Gopal Chand of Rajapur-6 in Bardiya district sustained injuries after being shot at by Indian security personnel. After being taken to Nepalgunj Teaching Hospital, he is recuperating well but his family members are traumatized because they fear that similar incidents can happen again as they live near the border.
Indra Bahadur Tharu of the same village went missing about two weeks ago. On August 21, family members of Tharu filed a missing report with police requesting the latter to find him. Tharu had left home for fishing but did not return. Nine days later, Indian security forces reported that Tharu has been found dead in an Indian forest.
His body was taken to Bahraich of India for postmortem. Indian authorities have refused to hand over the body to Indra's brother Ganesh, who reached Bahraich a few days ago. This has prevented the family members from performing the last rites.
Likewise, Birendra Bahadur Sah, 45, of Karmohani and Balkrishna Chaudhary of Mahuwa are missing since August 21. Both of their phones are switched off. Family members suspect the involvement of Indian security personnel in the incident.
Mahesh Tharu, ward chief of Rajapur Municipality-2, stated that Indian security personnel been a threat to the security of locals living in the border areas.
"Continuous incidents of shootings and disappearance have made the locals feel unsafe," said ward chief Tharu.
A year ago, Indian security personnel had opened fire on six Nepali nationals while collecting fodder in a jungle in the border area. After injuring him with a bullet, the Indian police took control of Ram Milan Lodh, 46, of Ashapur. Since, then no one knows about his whereabouts.
The same year, Manoj Yadav of Gulariya-7 received a bullet injury from the Indian security personnel while returning home through the no man's land. Injured Yadav knocked the door of the District Administration Office demanding action against the security personnel but to no avail.
These are just some representative cases of brutality of Indian police in the border areas in Bardiya. Victims accuse the Indian security personnel of misbehaving with them, beating and even shooting them for minor breaches while crossing the border.
The locals accuse that the Indian security forces even enter Nepal's territory illegally for patrolling or during hot pursuit of criminals, causing lots of inconvenience to them.
They complain of the highhandedness of the Indian forces in the name of maintaining security.
However, Chief District Officer of Bardiya Ram Bahadur Kurumwang claimed that the district administration has deployed enough security personnel for the safety of the locals.
"We are also making efforts to coordinate with our Indian counterpart to control such activities."