The family of Felani Khatun has been waiting for justice for 15 years since the teenage girl was shot dead by the Indian Border Security Force along the border in Kurigram on this day in 2011.
Her 15th death anniversary will be observed today at a time when India’s repeated pledges to bring border killings down to zero have gone in vain, with the killing of Bangladeshi nationals by India’s Border Security Force and Indian citizens continuing unabated.
To mark the day, Felani’s family will offer prayers at her grave in their ancestral village in Kurigram and distribute food among poor people in the area today.
‘Our child was killed 15 years ago. We are still waiting for justice,’ Felani’s father, Nur Islam, said in an emotion-choked voice.
Felani Khatun, then a 15-year-old girl, was shot dead by the BSF along the Anantapur border under Phulbari upazila in Kurigram on January 7, 2011, when she was returning home crossing barbed-wire fences erected by India. She was the eldest child among five siblings.
Her body was left hanging from the barbed-wire fence for five hours and the news sparked outrage and protests at home and abroad.
Bangladesh’s interim government in December 2025 renamed the road stretching from Gulshan-2 to Pragati Sarani ‘Felani Avenue’ in memory of Felani Khatun.
On July 29, 2015, Fenali’s father and Kirity Roy of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, in short Masum, jointly filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court of India, praying that a Central Bureau of Investigation team should be formed comprising officers from outside of West Bengal to take over the investigation of the case and prosecute the offenders.
In February 2020, an Indian High Court bench posted the Felani killing case for further hearing on March 18, 2020 after the Indian government had submitted its argument during the hearing.
The court also asked the authorities to compensate Felani’s father.
Felani’s father said that he neither received compensation nor justice so far.
In 2025, the BSF killed at least 34 Bangladeshis, the highest in number in the past five years, along the border, according to rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra data.
Indian citizens also killed at least 12 Bangladeshis along the border in the year, according to reports published on New Age.
The ASK data also showed that the number of Bangladeshi border killing victims was 30 in 2024, 31 in 2023, 23 in 2022 and 18 in 2021.
In the ongoing year, a 35-year-old Bangladeshi man died after he was detained by the Indian Border Security Force near the Jahurpurtek border under sadar upazila in Chapainawabganj on January 4.
