BD Army raped two Jumma women: Blogosphere allegation

Source: CHT News Update Blog
Url: http://chtnewsupdate.blogspot.com/2010/03/two-jumma-women-raped-by-army.html

Two Jumma women are alleged to have been raped by army in Matiranga in Khagrachari district. The victims have been identified as Barun Bala Tripura (30) wife of late Jala Kumar Tripura and Kalpana Tripura (30) wife of late Shashindra Tripura. Both of them hail from Shonkhola Para village in Matiranga.
The rape of the two women comes one day after the whole world celebrated 100th International Women’s Day on 8 March.
According to sources, on the day of incident, 9 March, the victims went to a jungle near Toikatang army camp under Matiranga zone to collect sun grass.
Around 9AM six army personnel led by Sepoy Habib (known as dariwala or bearded one) from the camp caught and raped them for 4 hours in the jungle.
Around 1pm some Jumma villagers, who were passing by the same jungle, saw the army personnel dragging and pulling the two women.
The women screamed for help and the army men were forced to let them go when they saw the villagers.
The camp commander Mehedi was not present in the camp when the incident took place. He went out on a duty to Matiranga bazaar, putting Kamal in charge of the camp.
Following the incident, the Matiranga zone commander visited Toikatang camp and called the local village elders to a meeting where he threatened them not to publicize the rape.
Ms Renu Bala Tripura, a member of Guimara Union Council, confirmed the incident and accused the army of a cover-up.
“The army is putting pressure on the village elders not to publicize the incident.” she said.
HWF Vice President Nirupa Chakma strongly condemned the rape of the two Tripura women and urged the government to bring the culprits to justice.
“As long as the army and the settlers are there in the CHT, there will be a perennial threat to the security of the Jumma women.” she said.