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KALPANA KIDNAP

Court orders further probe

Rejects CID report

Staff Correspondent
A Rangamati court yesterday ordered a further investigation into the abduction of Kalpana Chakma 16 years ago, directing the district police superintendent to interrogate the three main suspects, including an army officer.
The trio is Lieutenant Ferdous, Village Defence Party Commander Nurul Haque and its member Saleh Ahmed.
The court asked the SP to submit the investigation report by March 20, determining among other things, the
whereabouts of Kalpana, the then organising secretary of the Hill Women's Federation and an indigenous rights activist.
She was picked up ffomher Rangamati home allegedly by flie trio on June 12,1996. Her two brothers were present at thetimeofabduction.
The girl, then 22, has vanished ever since. Three official investigations over the last 16 years failed to trace her whereabouts or identify her abductors.
Although the case filed by her brother named Ferdous, Nurul and Saleh as the abductors, all the three probe reports cleared them of the charge.
During a hearing of the case on January 13, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Rangamati
Sirajuddowlah Kutubi expressed his disbelief over such investigations, saying: “How can it be that the police didn't even investigate the names mentioned in the First Information Report?"
Yesterday, the court also rejected the recent report submitted by the Criminal Investigation Department, saying the investigation team failed to do its job properly.
"The case should have been filed under Section 161, but the CID men didn't do this. They didn't even interrogate the three suspects or take depositions from the witnesses in the case,” observed the magistrate.
However, despite repeated appeals from the petitioner's counsels, the court did not grant a judicial inquiry, citing lack of resources and judicial
officers.
Asked to comment, Kalpana's brother Kalindi Kumar Chakma, also the complainant of the case, said: "I am suspicious about the impartiality of this probe as the SP himself is a police member. So far, the police have completely failed to investigate the case neutrally. They have instead dropped the names of the suspects."
Jewel Dewan, advocate for the plaintiff, told The Daily Star he was satisfied with the court directing the police to quiz the three suspects. "It would be good to finally interrogate them."
Meanwhile, a number of indigenous and human rights activists have registered concern over the investigation.
Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said, "I am sceptical whether the SP will be able to speak against
the army as there is no such precedence in Bangladesh. In general, everyone is afraid to challenge the army on any grounds."
He highlighted the need for the lawyers and activists to ensure that there is a proper follow-up on the investigation. “We simply cannot let another negative investigation happen. We need to make sure that the SP follows the specific court directives.”
Hana Shams Ahmed, coordinator of the CHT Commission, said, “Many of us fear that an investigation by an SP might be just as biased as the previous reports. An independent judicial inquiry would have been much more credible to the family of Kalpana Chakma and to everyone who has been seeking justice for this abduction for the last 16 years.”