BSF returns two Bangladeshi schoolboys after 8-hour detention

Indian border guards have returned two Bangladeshi schoolboys after detaining them for eight hours along the Patishiri border in Panchagarh's Sadar upazila. The boys were handed over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) during a flag meeting at the Meerdhgarh border on Wednesday evening, April 22.

The two teenagers are Indrajit Roy, 14, a seventh grader, and Uday Chandra Roy, 14, a ninth grader. They are uncle and nephew. They had gone to visit their sister Radhika Rani in the Garinabari Prainpara area of Panchagarh Sadar upazila when they decided to wander near the border.

Locals said the boys were taking pictures near the barbed wire fence along the border around 10:00 am when members of a nearby BSF camp picked them up. They also alleged that the boys were beaten during the detention.

Panchagarh 18 BGB Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Mohammad Kayes said they were able to secure the boys' return through a flag meeting within eight hours.