Chittagong Hill Tracts: Petition for Abduction Case Raises Awareness of Violence Against Indigenous Women
Photo Courtesy of the Dhaka Tribune
Today [10 January 2017] a hearing of a petition on the case of the abduction of Kalpana Chakma will take place. Kalpana Chakma, Organising Secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation, an organization of indigenous women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, was abducted from her home in June 1996. On 28 November 2016, Kalpana Chakma’s elder brother filed a petition rejecting the official report on the case, which did not identify the abductors. Leaders and activists of the Hill Women’s Federation also demand for the punishment of those responsible for the abduction of Kalpana Chakma. President of the Hill Women’s Federation, Monti Chakma, stated that this case shines a light on increasing sexual violence towards indigenous women.
Below is an article published by The Daily Star:
The hearing of the no-confidence petition in Kalpana Chakma abduction case will start in the district today.
On November 28 last year, Kalpana Chakma's elder brother Kalindi Kumar Chakma filed the petition, rejecting the probe report of the case, before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sabrina Ali.
The investigation officer of the case had filed the report on September 7, without identifying any abductors in this connection.
Meanwhile, different women's organisations in the hill district yesterday demanded arrest and exemplary punishment of the culprits who abducted Kalpana Chakma.
Leaders and activists of Hill Women's Federation, Parbatya Chattagram Nari Sangha, Sajek Nari Somaj and Ghilachhari Nari Rakkha Committee came up with the demand at a demonstration programme in Kudukchhari Bazar in Rangamati's Naniarchar upazila yesterday, ahead of the hearing of the no-confidence petition today.
While addressing the rally chaired by Monti Chakma, president of Hill Women's Federation's Rangamati unit, speakers said indigenous women are being raped frequently and becoming unsafe day by day, adding that if the culprits are not punished they will feel more insecure.
Although twenty years have passed since the abduction, the investigation officer of the case failed to find any evidence and identify the kidnappers of Kalpana Chakma, they said.
Kalpana Chakma, organising secretary of Hill Women's Fedaration, an organisation of indigenous women in Chittagong Hill Tracts, was abducted from her residence in Baghaichari upazila of Rangamati on June 11, 1996.
