Police file 3 cases 4 days after Khagrachhari violence, 1,100 accused
Police in Khagrachhari have filed three cases four days after protests and violence marred the Guimara upazila of the district over the alleged rape of a hill teenage girl.
Two of the cases were registered at Guimara police station on Wednesday night, and another at Khagrachhari police station.
According to police, one of the cases was filed against 300 unidentified people on allegation of obstructing government duties, injuring government officials, and carrying out vandalism, and arson.
Another case was filed on charges of murder, also against unidentified individuals, as the families of the deceased refused to lodge complaints.
Meanwhile, another case was filed at the Khagrachhari Sadar police station against 800 unidentified people on allegation of obstructing government duties and carrying out violence in defiance of Section 144.
Guimara police station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Enamul Haque Chowdhury confirmed the filing of the cases to Prothom Alo on Thursday morning.
He said law enforcement forces have been deployed across the district, and intelligence surveillance is ongoing. Section 144 is in place
In the meantime, Section 144 is still in effect in Khagrachhari Sadar and Guimara upazila.
However, transportation and public movement in Khagrachhari have returned to normal today. Long-distance vehicles have also departed from the district. As today is the weekly market day in Khagrachhari, crowds were seen in the markets.
When asked, Khagrachhari deputy commissioner ABM Iftekharul Islam Khandker told Prothom Alo that the situation appeared normal.
However, if law enforcement considers the situation stable, Section 144 will be lifted, he added.
A hill teenage girl was allegedly gang-raped on her way home from private tutoring in Khagrachhari on 24 September around 9:00 pm. Her relatives rescued her in an unconscious state from a field around 11 pm.
That very night, she was admitted to Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital. The following day, she left the hospital. Police arrested certain Shayon Shill in connection with the incident.
Following the rape allegation, under the banner of Jumma Chhatra Janata, a blockade was called in Khagrachhari on 27 September. From the next day, the organisation called for blockades across all three hill districts.
Amid the blockade, on 28 September, protests and violence turned Guimara’s Ramesu Bazar into a battlefield. There, law enforcement clashed with protesters, and a local group also joined the confrontation.
Three hill people were killed in the gunfire. At least 20 others, including an army major, were injured. Nearly 50 homes and around 40 shops in the Ramesu Bazar area were set on fire.
Meanwhile, a medical board reported that no evidence of rape was found in the girl’s physical examination. However, the girl’s father expressed outrage over the report.