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Two Marma Girls

NHRC to form committee to probe alleged rape, assault

Staff Correspondent
The National Human Rights Commission has formed a three-member committee to probe the allegations of rape of a Marma girl and sexual assault on her younger sister in Rangamati.
"The committee will visit the spot of the incident, meet and talk to the victims and others concerned. It will submit a report within seven working days," said a statement issued by the NHRC yesterday.
NHRC Member and former principal of Rangamati Government College Banchhita Chakma has been made convener of the committee. The other two members are NHRC Director and Additional District and Sessions Judge Md Sharif Uddin, and NHRC Deputy Director Md Gazi Salahuddin.
Upon receiving the report, the NHRC will make recommendations to the government for bringing the culprits to book, said the NHRC after holding a special meeting.
"The commission will make the maximum effort in line with the law to bring to justice those responsible for sexual abuse of the Marma girls," NHRC Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said in the statement.
Following publication of reports in the media, the NHRC on January 25 asked the Rangamati deputy commissioner to probe the allegations and submit a report by February 26.
Besides, NHRC Member Banchhita Chakma met the two Marma sisters while under treatment at the Rangamati Sadar Hospital. The Marma sisters -- one aged 18, was allegedly raped, and the other, aged 13, was sexually assaulted allegedly by security forces - during a drive by a team of security forces in their village in Bilaicchari on January 22. They were admitted to the hospital the same day.
Following a writ petition filed by the girls' father, a High Court bench on February 13 ordered the authorities
concerned to hand over the girls to their father.
The parents on February 15 afternoon went to the hospital and demanded custody of the girls, who refused to return home out of safety concern and had an altercation with their parents and the police. They, however, had to leave the hospital under force, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission said the two Marma girls were "abducted from the hospital by members of the security forces on February 15, 2018 in the name of handing them over to their parents”.
"It is very alarming to know that following their abduction from the hospital, the two girls were taken under the custody of a former member of the Rangamati Hill District Council at his residence in Rangamati town against their will," it said in a statement.
Chakma Queen, Rani Yan Yan, adviser to the Chakma Raja and spouse of Chakma Chief Debasish Roy, and her companions, who were looking after the welfare of the two girls, were "physically assaulted" when they tried to “prevent the abduction", it noted.
The statement was signed by CHT Commission co-chairs Sultana Kamal, Elsa Stamatopoulou and Myrna
Cunningham Kain.
"While the state has repeatedly failed to provide security to indigenous women living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts thus creating a culture of impunity, in the case of these girls it was reportedly the members of state security forces who themselves carried out these crimes.
"Following the attack, the security forces continued to intimidate the girls and their family, and instead of providing them with the legal and emotional support that is needed by survivors of violence, the security forces kept them under their strict surveillance," it said.
No action has been taken yet against the alleged perpetrators, mentioned the CHT Commission.
It demanded an inquiry into the allegations by an independent, neutral and appropriately-mandated body.
The commission also called for prosecution and punishment of those who committed rape and sexual assault on the Marma girls and attacked Rani Yan Yan.
"We also demand that the state ensures the security of the two Marma young women along with the security of the Chakma Raj family," it said.