BSF jawan held by Pakistan returned to India, days after ‘bilateral understanding’ at border

Purnam Kumar Shaw had been in Pakistan Rangers’ custody since 23 April. He was handed over to the BSF at Attari border around 10.30 am Wednesday.

BSF constable Purnam Kumar Shaw (centre) after his return to India at Attari-Wagah check post Wednesday | By special arrangement

New Delhi: The Border Security Force constable, who had been detained by Pakistan Rangers, was released and handed over to India Wednesday. Purnam Kumar Shaw was handed over to the BSF at the joint check post at the Attari border near Amritsar around 10.30 am, a BSF spokesperson said. 

Shaw had been in the custody of Pakistan Rangers since 23 April, when he had inadvertently crossed the international border.

The development comes days after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire after four days of tensions at the border last week.

“The handover was conducted peacefully and in accordance with established protocols,” the BSF spokesperson said.

ThePrint had previously reported how Shaw had strayed beyond the international border, while accompanying a group of local farmers across the border fence as part of routine security detail. The BSF officers had maintained that it was routine drill for BSF troops on the border, but Shaw had been quickly detained by Pakistan Rangers. 

BSF officers had maintained that flag meetings were conducted regularly for his release, but there was lack of prompt response from their Pakistani counterparts due to hostilities at the border, according to them.

ThePrint had also reported that his three-month pregnant wife Rajani Shaw had travelled from Hooghly in West Bengal to Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to meet senior officers of the BSF to push for her husband’s return.

Responding to his release, his mother Dewanti Devi Shaw said that the Commanding Officer of the battalion had called to inform the family of the constable’s return.

“We had been crying helplessly for 21 days… could not eat properly, could not sleep peacefully. Now, there are tears of happiness. We have not spoken in detail to him, but he has come back now,” Dewanti Devi told media persons at her residence in West Bengal’s Hooghly.

(Edited by Mannat Chugh)