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BSF jurisdiction: Congress says will consult parties, state govts to compel Centre to repeal order Expressing grave concern over the Centre's move to grant more powers to the Border Security Force, the Congress on Saturday said it will consult other political parties as well as state governments and formulate a course of action to compel
The 1968 Act vested police powers with the BSF in the border region because state police forces were thinly deployed and under-equipped. Expanding those powers today makes no sense, unless the aim is to encroach on the rights of states.
The Centre has amended the BSF (Border Security Force) Act to authorise the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a larger 50 kms stretch, instead of the existing 15 kms, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
To curb crime along the international border, the Border Security Force (BSF) forces can now carry out searches and make arrests within a 50 kilometres stretch into Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, which share international borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Some SAD leaders, including party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, were briefly detained by police here on Thursday when they tried to march towards the governor's residence to protest the Centre's decision to extend the BSF's jurisdiction in Punjab, among other states, according to officials. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alleged that the police manhandled and hustled Badal and