By IANS,
Agartala : The Tripura government Wednesday ordered a magisterial probe into an incident of firing by the Border Security Force (BSF) in which two people were killed and five wounded.
“Our police chief has already spoken to the BSF authorities and conveyed the state government’s view that security forces must not open fire unless the situation gets out of hand,” Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told reporters.
He added that the report of the magisterial inquiry ordered by his government would be submitted within 10 days.
“The chief secretary will send a detailed report to the union home ministry and the BSF chief. BSF jawans should try to detain criminals or miscreants before pulling the trigger,” the chief minister said.
Two civilians were killed and five more, including a paramilitary trooper, were injured Monday when BSF troopers opened fire after a clash with a mob at Boxanagar in west Tripura, bordering Bangladesh.
The incident took place when BSF troopers went to the village to nab some marijuana smugglers.
“The villagers, including women, attacked the BSF jawans after the troopers seized a huge quantity of ganja (marijuana) and caught some smugglers. The paramilitary personnel were forced to open fire in self-defence, killing Amir Hussain, 33, and Mahabul Mia, 30, on the spot,” A BSF spokesman said.
“The smugglers equipped with country-made guns and sharp weapons along with villagers tried to overpower the five troopers who, acting on a tip-off, had gone to the spot to seize the ganja and catch the smugglers,” he added.