A Rangamati court has set June 16 for further hearing in indigenous leader Kalpana Chakma abduction case following a petition filed against a report on the investigation.
Police in the latest progress report filed on July 20 last year said they could not solve the case without taking statement of the victim.
Bangladesh Legal Aid and Service Trust (BLAST) Coordinator and lawyer Jewel Dewan filed the petition yesterday seeking the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court’s order to the police to submit another progress report mentioning what steps had been taken after July 20 last year.
Outside the court, members of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS), Hill Women’s Federation (HWF) and Parbatya Chattagram Mahila Samiti (PCMS) jointly formed a human chain condemning the progress report.
“…Since victim Kalpana Chakma herself is the main witness in the case, until she is found or a final decision is taken about her [whereabouts], it is not possible to complete the investigation work in the case,” then Rangamati police superintendent Amena Begum said in the report.
On June 12, 1996, Kalpana, the then HWF organising secretary, was abducted allegedly by Lt Ferdous and two Village Defence Party (VDP) members Nurul Haque and Saleh Ahmed from her home at New Lalyaghona of Baghaichhari in Rangamati. The abduction took place several hours before the seventh national elections. She was then campaigning for independent candidate Bijoy Ketan Chakma, the then senior Presidium member of Pahari Gana Parishad.
After 14 years of investigation, Baghaichhari police submitted a final report to the court on May 21, 2010. Earlier a judicial inquiry commission also investigated the incident.
The CID filed a report 16 years after the abduction. But the court rejected it as the report neither identified the abductors nor gave information about her whereabouts.
Upon an objection petition by the victim’s brother, the court appointed Amena Begum in March 2013 to probe the case.
Kalpana’s brother Kalindi Kumar Chakma said: “I do not understand why my statement is not being included in any report prepared by the law enforcement agencies.
“We [he and his brother Lal Bihari, and his wife and mother] witnessed the whole incident. Amena Begum heard me but did not write anything. She did not want to take statement from my brother or any local leader.”
Kalindi’s remarks corroborate with the progress report where Amena Begum mentioned that she had not written any statement during her investigation “as the statement was same as given to the other investigation officers.”
As many as 35 investigation officers investigated the Kalpana abduction case.
Condemning the role of police, PCJSS Information Secretary Sajib Chakma and PCMS General Secretary Suprabha Chakma alleged that the police were trying to save the accused since they are from law enforcement agencies.
Hana Shams Ahmed, coordinator of the International CHT Commission, says this is a false and evasion tactic by the state.
“The then police superintendent questioned all the three suspects but has sadly been unable to draw a conclusion. This is an evasion; the investigator is now an accomplice to the abduction if she deliberately protects the suspects.” l
