Chhotelal Sah, who was working on his farm near the border, was beaten up by the border guards which led to tensions in the area as locals entered into a dispute with the personnel in defense of Chhotelal.

A clash ensued between locals on both sides of the border as the dispute between Bisrampur locals and SSB guards escalated.

A dozen people including Chhotelal Sah, Ashok Sah, Narayan Sah, Raju Mahato, Kamalesh Thakur, Kanil Paswal, sustained injuries in the clash. Ashok Sah has sustained injuries on his head while others have suffered minor injuries. All of them have returned home after receiving treatment at the local health institute, ward chair Yadav informed.

According to Amirilal Pal, Chairman of the Bishrampur rural municipality, security forces on both sides of the border are reckless mostly and they don’t maintain any vigilance during the night. “Border crossing points are open for those who can ‘lure’ these personnel,” Pal stated.

“The chiefs of local police ignore these bits of information when we talk to them about it.”

Such incidents have taken place in the recent past too because of groups engaging in smuggling of home-brewed liquor, added the RM chair.

The Rural Municipality Chair shared with us the chain of events that triggered the incident. “A youth from the bordering area was beaten up by the SSB on Monday evening as he was trying to cross the border to India. He gathered his friends and relatives and beat up the guards in an act of revenge. What happened today was the SSB avenging yesterday’s fight.”

The dispute between the border guards and the youth escalated, involving in it the locals from both sides of the border, Pal elaborated.

As per the Superintendent of District Police Office, Krishna Pangeni, security personnel from both the sides were deployed to maintain peace and take situation under control. “The dispute did not spread as we took things under control in time.”

Things have returned back to normal now, the SP assured.