JURISDICTION
OF BSF - DEFENCE & SECURITY
News:
Limits and borders: On
the territorial jurisdiction of the Border Security Force
What's
in the news?
●
Litigation concerning the territorial
jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Punjab seems to be the
result of the lack of effective consultation between the central and State governments
on the issue.
Key
takeaways:
●
Punjab has filed a suit against the Union
government under Article 131 of the
Constitution, challenging the decision to increase the operational jurisdiction
of the BSF from 15 km to 50 km.
●
The border State sees the Centre’s move as
a breach of federal principles and an encroachment into the law and order
powers of the Punjab police.
●
West Bengal has a similar view, and both
States have got resolutions passed in their Assemblies against the expansion.
●
In this backdrop, the Supreme Court’s
decision to examine the questions that arise from the expansion of the BSF’s
area of operations acquires significance.
Notification
of Centre and Extension of BSF Jurisdiction:
●
In October 2021, the Centre had issued a
notification under the provisions of the BSF Act, standardising the area over
which the BSF would have jurisdiction to operate.
●
In Punjab,
West Bengal and Assam, the distance was raised from within 15 km from the
border to 50 km.
●
It was reduced from 80 km to 50 km in Gujarat.
●
For Rajasthan,
it was kept unchanged at 50 km.
●
According to the BSF, the decision to
extend the jurisdiction of the security force to a 50 km belt along the international border in Punjab, West Bengal, and
Assam was taken to ‘give uniformity to the jurisdiction’ across the states.
Border
Security Force (BSF):
●
It is India’s border guarding force along
the borders of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
●
BSF is one of the seven Central Armed
Police Forces of Union of India.
●
BSF currently stands as the world’s
largest border guarding force.
Purpose:
●
It was raised in the wake of the 1965 War
on 1 December 1965 as India’s first line of defence for ensuring the security
of the borders of India and for matters connected therewith.
Administrative
Control:
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Deployment:
●
On-Line of Control (LoC) along with Indian
Army and in Anti-Naxal Operations.
Powers
of BSF:
●
It has a power to arrest, search and seize under laws such as the Passport (Entry
into India) Act, 1920, Passport Act, 1967, Customs Act, 1962, The Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and certain other laws.
●
It mainly focuses on preventing trans-border crimes, especially unauthorised entry into
or exit from Indian territory.
●
It does
not have the power to investigate or prosecute offenders, but has to hand
over those arrested and the contraband seized from them to the local police.
●
In practice, BSF personnel usually work in
close coordination with the police
and there ought to be no clash of jurisdiction.
●
Section 139(1) of the BSF Act allows the
central government, through an order, to designate an area “within the local
limits of such area adjoining the borders of India” where members of the BSF
can exercise powers to prevent offenses under any Acts that the central
government may specify.