NHRC hopeful about Romel Chakma probe

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque has asserted that the commission’s probe body will be able to unearth the mysterious death of UPDF-backed indigenous student leader Romel Chakma soon. Formed on April 24, the three-member probe body was given 15 working days to submit a report on the matter. They met with Romel’s family and locals at his village home in Purbo Hatimara under Burighat union of Naniarchar on May 1. They also talked to Naniarchar police and local administration. But the probe body, headed by NHRC Member Banchita Chakma, also former principal of Rangamati College, later sought 15 more days as one of the members was transferred to another district recently. The deputy commissioner of Rangamati has accepted the time prayer and asked the committee to submit the report by May 30. “The committee members will talk to the locals at Naniarchar bazar from where Romel Chakma was picked up by the army personnel,” NHRC boss Reazul told the Dhaka Tribune Thursday, adding that the army personnel concerned would be summoned too. “We need a full committee before questioning the army personnel,” he added. The police are not investigating the incident of Romel’s detention or death, Naniarchar police said Thursday. NHRC's Banchita Chakma said that the district administration had given the name of another executive magistrate, Tapos Shil. “We will visit Chittagong Medical College Hospital on Tuesday [May 23] and talk to Naniarchar police, army camp, Upazila Health Complex and traders at the local bazar the following day,” she told the Dhaka Tribune Thursday. On April 6, Romel’s father Binoy Kanti Chakma wrote to the NHRC chairman demanding justice for the “inhuman torture” inflicted upon his son by the army personnel. The NHRC did not respond immediately, but formed the probe body on April 24, five days after Romel died during treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH). The two other members of the committee were NHRC Rangamati office Deputy Director Gazi Md Salahuddin and Executive Magistrate Alimuzzaman. The committee had to be reconstituted due to the transfer of Alimuzzaman. In a statement issued on April 24, NHRC Chairman Reazul said: “It is a serious violation of human rights to kill an innocent person by inhuman torture.” He said that they would recommend exemplary punishment if the allegations against the army personnel were found to be true during investigation. HSC examinee Romel, 20, was the general secretary of UPDF-backed Pahari Chhatra Parishad’s Naniarchar upazila unit. He was picked up by the local army personnel on April 5 and handed over to the police in critical condition in the evening. The next morning, police and army personnel admitted him to the CMCH where he died on April 19. The autopsy report has not been released as of Thursday. Romel’s father alleged that they were barred from meeting him at the camp as well as at the hospital. The couple was also not allowed to join the cremation, held under the supervision of the upazila administration and the police. The army refuted the allegations of torture, and insists that Romel had been sick at the time of his detention for questioning in an arson case filed with Naniarchar police. The army’s media wing ISPR later claimed that Romel had masterminded the attack in which two buses were looted and a truck torched in the area on January 23. Different rights groups, student bodies and UPDF have demanded a judicial inquiry to unearth the reasons behind Romel’s death terming the detention and torture unjust, and an end to the culture of impunity enjoyed by the army in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region for decades. International CHT Commission has written to the Home Ministry demanding a judicial inquiry. The UPDF has alleged that the army is spreading false information about the indigenous groups to legitimise the killing of Romel Chakma and arbitrary arrests, and to thwart their movement demanding quick implementation of the 1997 CHT Accord. UPDF and PCP have staged demonstrations including blockade and sit-in programme to press home their demand for bringing to book the Naniarchar zone commander and one Maj Tanvir, and compensation for Romel’s family. After his death, several national dailies claimed quoting unnamed army sources that Romel had been present on the spot during the attacks with arms, and that UPDF and other indigenous political groups were trying to destabilise the CHT through carrying out murders, abductions and extortion with the help of Myanmar-based radical Buddhist groups. Local police could not confirm authenticity of the information. But the local Bangali groups, formed with leaders and activists of all political parties including the Awami League and Jamaat-Shibir, made similar claims, and demanded ban on UPDF and PCJSS terming them terrorist groups.