A resident of a village near the India-Bangladesh border in South Dinajpur district has accused some troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF) of assaulting her family and misbehaving with the women, including her, on Sunday night.

A woman who lives with her husband, children and other members in a village under Hili police station limits, has filed a complaint with the police, alleging that the jawans of the 61st battalion of the BSF posted in the area beat them up with sticks and touched her and her daughter inappropriately.

“We have received money from the state government under the Banglar Awas scheme to build a concrete house. Yesterday afternoon (Sunday), while construction work was on, some BSF jawans came and told us that we cannot build the house as it is close to the border,” said the homemaker.

According to her, the barbed wire fence along the India-Bangladesh border is around 30 metres from their plot.

Her husband and other members of the family tried to convince the troopers that they needed to finish the construction work to get the second installment of the cash assistance, she said.

“The jawans, however, did not listen to us and told us to stop the work,” she said.

"Later that night, when we were having dinner, a group of BSF jawans barged into our house. They beat us indiscriminately with sticks."

She added: "Even my daughter and I were not spared. The jawans also touched us inappropriately and threatened us with dire consequences in case we continued the construction work.”

After the incident, the family informed the local panchayat member. They were taken to a local health centre and given first aid.

Later, the woman filed a complaint with Hili police.

The incident has left the villagers angry. They said that the BSF jawans had claimed that if the house was built, it would reduce the visibility at the border, which they found illogical. “They (the BSF) patrol along the fence, and the house is coming up at least 30 metres ahead of the fence. We fail to understand why they are so insistent on stopping the work. The administration should intervene as many of us have received state funds to build concrete houses,” said a villager.

Police officers at the Hili police station said they received the complaint. “We are probing the incident,” said one of them.

Officers of the 61st battalion of the BSF could not be contacted. On-duty troopers posted at the border declined comment.