Still no closure after almost 18 years

It will be exactly 18 years on June 12 since Kalpana Chakma, the former organising secretary of Hill Women’s Federation, was abducted. Yesterday was supposed to be the day when Rangamati Police Superintendent Amena Begum would have submitted the re-investigation report of the Kalpana Chakma case to the district’s Judicial Magistrate’s Court. However, it did not happen, and another date was given – for the eleventh time. The SP told reporters that it was taking time since she had to fulfil the four instructions the court had given on January 16 last year for the re-investigation. The directives were to try to rescue Kalpana Chakma; to take statements of the witnesses and those involved in the case; to take statements of the accused – Lt Ferdous of Kojoichhari army camp, and Village Defence Party (VDP) members Nurul Haque and Saleh Ahmed; and to present the correct report to the court. She said: “Everything is still hypothetical. It is not said anywhere that Kalpana Chakma is dead. May be she has been held captive, or something might have happened to her. But it is my job to find her.” There is a conflict of narratives in this case too. SP Amena has claimed that there are inconsistencies in the first information report filed by Kalpana’s elder brother Kalindi Kumar Chakma. She said the FIR had not contained the names of the accused who were reportedly identified by Kalpana’s younger brother Lalbihari Chakma. The accused were not questioned by any of the investigating officials beforehand, the official said adding that she had made some considerable progress on the tasks as instructed by the court. She took statements from Lt Ferdous and two out of three men who allegedly were present with him on the night Kalpana had disappeared. Kalpana’s lawyer Jewel Dewan yesterday submitted a petition to the court for acquiring the progress made in the reinvestigation. He said the court extended the submission date until July 9, and “if the SP fails to submit the report, the court will ask for a progress report.”