An indigenous girl raped by a Bengali Settler and another girl believed to be kidnapped in Longadu
An indigenous Chakma girl raped by a Bengali Settler in Longadu
On 11th September 2013, an 11year old indigenous Chakma girl was raped by a Bengali settler named Md. Johir (45) son of Abdul Aziz at Rangi Para of Bogachodor union under Longadu upazila in Rangamati district.
It is learnt that the victim has been suffering from an epileptic seizure since her childhood. Her parents took the victim 5 days ago for her better treatment to their neighbour Md. Johir when they came to know he is an expert on epilepsy related disease. On incident’s day, Md. Johir took her away alone in nearby banana garden in the name of magical therapies as well as religious healing to ward off evil spirits and appease deities from her body. The culprit Md. Jahir raped the indigenous girl there.
The girl reported her mother after coming back that she was forcibly raped by perpetrators Md. Johir. When the news flashed in public, the Bogachadar UP member of Ward No. 1 Md. Dewan Mansur Ahmed Chowdhury tried to minimize the problem secretly creating pressure on victim’s parents and indigenous communities. On 12 September, a local arbitration was arranged by said UP member to settle the case internally by fining the culprit taka 60,000 as a compensation of the rape. According to the decision of local arbitration the culprit would pay the amount of compensation by 15th September. In the mean time, police from Longadu police station received news of this incident and visited the incident area for the investigation on it further.
The victim’s father Potya Kumar Chakma filed a case with Longadu police station, but police could not arrest the culprit yet. The victim was admitted with Rangamati hospital for her better treatment. The Magistrate of Rangamati sadar recorded a statement of victim under Section 164 in the mean time with a Chakma male interpreter while victim’s parents were not allowed to stay inside during the statement.
An indigenous Chakma girl believed to be abducted in Longadu
On 10 August 2013, a 13-year old indigenous Chakma girl from Chadarachara village of Ward No. 5 under Atarokchara union of Longadu upazila in Rangamati district was believed to be abducted by a Bengali Settler Md. Kamal (30) of Ward No. 4 under the same union. The victim was a student of grade five of Bhangamura Model Government Primary School.
It is learnt that Md Kamal was a fisherman. Few days ago of the abducting day, he started staying at Pravat Chakma’s home for 3 days with the purpose of fishing. After leaving the host’s home, on mobile phone, Md. Kamal invited to girl’s parents to visit his house on the occasion of Eid. Mr. Pravat answered with an innocent mind that he and his wife will not be available at home for next 3-4 days for an important family program. The villagers believed that by that time Kamal might abduct the girl when he became confirmed that girl’s parent left home for few days already. It is noteworthy that there were no proper windows fixed up in Pravat Chakma’s house due to lack of money. As a result, abduction of the girl forcibly from such this poor house structure was a bit easy for him. Soon after abduction, the victim’s father Pravat Chakma filed a General Diary (GD) (GD no. 434) with Longadu police station on 14/08/2013. Police could not take any action to rescue the girl yet, and no one is arrested as well.
