chtnews.com
News No. 05/2011, February 09, 2011
A Jumma housewife was raped and her house looted in the village of Porabari under Taindong Union of Matiranga Upazila in Khagrachari district.
The victim of the sexual assault has been identified as Malarung Tripura, 32. Her husband’s name is Nityo Ranjan Tripura.
The incident took place in the small hours of 26 January.
According to sources, a group of 8 – 9 settlers including Suruj Mian and Babul Mian of Muslim Para village went to the house of Nityo Ranjan Tripura to commit robbery.
The settlers at first began to pour the dried turmeric kept at his courtyard into their sacks.
When the sounds the settlers’ movements woke Mr. Tripura up, he flashed his torch and shouted, saying, “thief, thief”.
At this stage, four of the robbers broke into the house, beat him up and forced him to give the keys to the wardrobe.
While he was being beaten up, Suruj Mian and Babul Mian dragged his wife Malarung Tripura to a corner of the house and gang-raped her.
The settlers took away five mounds of dried turmeric, cash Taka 16,000, gold ornaments, clothes and their national identity cards, Nityo said.
He said their house is about one mile away from the main village and hence the villagers could do nothing to help them.
A case was filed on 28 January with Matiranga Thana under section 9/3 of the Repression of Women and Children Abuses Act (amended) 2003 and section 394 of the Bangladesh Penal Code. (Case No. 05, dated 28 January 2011.)
Protests:
The Hill Women’s Federation’s Khagrachari district unit president Riku Chakma and general secretary Madri Chakma in a statement condemned the rape of Malarung Tripura and the looting of their belongings, and demanded that the culprits be arrested and the victims provided compensation.
On 30 January, over two hundred Jumma students staged a human chain in Khagrachari in protest against the rape of Malarung Tripura and the looting of her house in Matiranga.
Students from Khagrachari Govt. College and Khagrachari Technical School and College took part in the programme held on a roadside in front of Khagrachari College.
PCP leader Apruchi Marma, Dipa Tripura, Rajeeb Tripura and Chailaprue Marma spoke on the occasion.
In Panchari the Hill Students Council organised a protest rally and a procession on 31 January.
The rally was addressed by Bibortan Chakma, Nicolas Chakma, Arpan Chakma, Chikko Chakma and Hari Kamal Tripura.
The speakers urged the government to take steps to bring the rapists of Malarung Tripura to justice.
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