Death of 3 cow lifters in Bidyabil: Bangladesh attempts bilateral tussle, India counters

Issuing infiltration of three Bangladeshi cow lifters in Bidyabil, a border village at Khowai district on Wednesday, who here hacked to death after they killed one Indian villager and injured  another one in a clash between the two, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) strongly reacted over a statement issued by Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry.

In response to media queries regarding an incident in Tripura involving Bangladesh nationals, Official Spokesperson of MEA, Randhir Jaiswal said “this incident underscores the need for Bangladesh to undertake necessary measures to uphold the sanctity of the International Boundary and support the construction of fencing where needed to prevent cross-border crimes and smuggling.”

“We have noted that an incident in Tripura leading to the death of three Bangladesh smugglers took place on October 15, 2025 about 3 kms inside Indian territory. A group of three miscreants from Bangladesh crossed the international border and attempted to steal cattle from Bidyabil village in Indian territory. They attacked and injured local villagers with iron dahs and knives, and killed one villager, even as other villagers arrived and resisted the attackers,” said Randhir Jaiswal.

He said in the statement that authorities rushed to the spot, where two smugglers were found dead; a third succumbed to his injuries in hospital the following day. The mortal remains of all three have been handed over to the Bangladesh side. Police have also registered a case.

The MEA statement reiterated that “this incident underscores the need for Bangladesh to undertake necessary measures to uphold the sanctity of the International Boundary and support the construction of fencing where needed to prevent cross-border crimes and smuggling.”

Responding to the killing of three Bangladeshi cattle lifters in Bidyabil village of Khowai district, the Bangladesh government instead of admitting cross-border criminal activities by their nationals, demanded stop recurrence of such acts, impartial probe and arrest of all annoyed villagers, who were involved in the clash.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh government on Friday (October 17) through a statement   strongly protests and condemns the alleged ‘brutal beating and killing’ of three Bangladeshi citizens by a mob in Tripura, India on 15 October 2025.

They said “this heinous act is an unacceptable and grave violation of human rights and the rule of law. The Government of Bangladesh expresses its serious concern over this deplorable incident and calls upon the Government of India to conduct an immediate, impartial and transparent investigation into the incident and take sincere efforts to stop recurrence of such inhumane acts. The perpetrators must be identified and brought to justice.”

The Government of Bangladesh underscores that all individuals, irrespective of their nationality, are entitled to the full protection of their human rights, regardless of which side of the border they may inadvertently find themselves in, said Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry statement.

But, in reality majority people of the Indian border villages and including the capital city of Agartala often faces thefts, cow lifting and other cross-border crime due to rampant infiltration of Bangladeshi criminals and miscreants, which has posed a serious internal security concern.

Apart from cross-border criminal activities of Bangladeshi nationals, Tripura became a corridor for infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals with active help of Bangladeshi human traffickers as infiltration from the unrest that hit Bangladesh into Tripura continued despite tight security measures and surveillance in the long 856 km border with Bangladesh.

It may be recalled here that the October 15 incident in bordering Bidyabil village in Khowai district of Tripura has only reflected the annoyance of Indian villagers, who are often losing their valuable cattle and other properties due to Bangladeshi criminals.

Infiltration into the Northeastern states especially in Tripura and Assam in the last few months hundreds of Bangladesh nationals along with Rohingyas were arrested by security forces from different borders of Tripura.

After a brief half, especially after operation ‘Sindoor’, the infiltration was almost stopped due tight security in the entire stretch of border, but during the past few months Bangladesh nationals were arrested from different parts  of the state and they are being pushed-back to Bangladesh after legal proceedings.