The Centre has recently extended the area under the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) leading to a political row into the entire matter.
The extension of the area pertains to three states namely West Bengal, Punjab and Assam.
While the ruling TMC has hit out at the Centre on Thursday calling it as an infringement on the state land Congress also echoed TMC’s opposition.
The Union government amended the BSF Act that authorises the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a larger 50 km stretch in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
Among all the states, West Bengal has the longest and most porous international borders. As the state shares a 2216-km-long international border with Bangladesh.
Moreover, in Bengal, some BSF officers are under the scanner of CBI in a 2020 transborder cattle smuggling case.
The BSF now has the power to arrest, search, and seize to the extent of 50 km inside three new states sharing international boundaries with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Moreover, the Ministry of Home Affairs stresses that the recent drone droppings of weapons from across the border is what led to this expansion in the jurisdiction of the BSF.
As per the new notification, BSF officers will be able to conduct searches and arrests over a wider area in West Bengal, Punjab, and Assam. Also, BSF gets the right to take this action under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Passport Act, and the Passport (Entry to India) Act.
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