BSF powers and the 15-km border zone: What Amit Shah directive means

On 26 May 2026, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered enforcement agencies to follow a strict zero-tolerance approach against unauthorised construction within 15 kilometres of India's international borders. He gave the direction while speaking near the border in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to stay alert against smuggling, infiltration and other cross-border offences.

The 15-km figure is significant. While the Centre in October 2021 widened the BSF's jurisdiction in some states up to 50 km, the force's full range of preventive powers under various central laws still applies only within 15 kilometres of the border. Outside that band, the BSF can act only under specific laws such as the Criminal Procedure Code, the Passport (Entry into India) Act and the Passports Act.

The BSF itself was raised under the Border Security Force Act of 1968 to guard India's frontiers with neighbouring countries. Officers can carry out arrests, searches and seizures, but they must hand over the accused and the seized material to the state police within 24 hours. The BSF does not have powers to investigate or prosecute cases on its own.

The legal hook for jurisdiction is Section 139(1) of the BSF Act. It allows the central government to notify a belt along the border where the BSF can exercise preventive powers under listed central laws. Before the 2021 change, the standard 15-km belt applied in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, while the entire territories of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh were already covered.

After the 2021 notification, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam moved to a 50-km belt, Gujarat's 80-km belt was trimmed to 50 km, and Rajasthan stayed at 50 km. The Centre justified the wider zone by citing the use of drones to drop arms, fake currency and narcotics, and the practice of smugglers fleeing beyond BSF reach.

Some state governments, especially West Bengal and Punjab, objected at the time, arguing that the expansion encroached on the law-and-order powers of states under the Seventh Schedule. The Union government rejected this and said the wider zone would help joint operations with state police.

In practice, BSF officers have said the force often hesitates to use even its 15-km powers because it cannot prosecute and depends on state police. Shah's renewed directive to demolish illegal structures within 15 km is therefore aimed at the core zone where the BSF's preventive authority is strongest, and signals tighter Centre-state coordination on border security.