Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum (BIPF) and Kapaeeng Foundation jojntly organise Human Chain at the headquarters of Sitakunda Upazila (sub-district) of Chittagong district. Hundreds of Tripura villagers from Sitakunda and Mirasarai Upazilas attended the protest. Presided over by General Secretary of Sitakunda unit of BIPF Mr. Rabindra Tripura, the event was addressed by Local Commission of Sitakunda Municipality Mr. Shafikul Alam Chowdhury Murad, leader of Gonotantrik Mukti Council Mr. Amir Abbas, General Secretary of BIPF of Mirasrai unit Mr. Surendra Tripura. Besides, leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council also attended the protest.
Speakers of the protest demanded to arrest and ensure exemplary punishment of the perpetrators; to provide compensation to the families of the two victims; and to ensure overall security of indigenous peoples including Sitakunda Adivasi Tripura Para.
The key accused in the killing of two Tripura girls, Abul Hossen, confessed to the murder after he was arrested early yesterday in Sitakunda upazila.
The victims are Sukloti Tripura, 15, and her neighbour Chobi Rani Tripura, 13.
Hossen had been making advances towards Sukloti. On Friday morning, he approached her once again while she was at Chobi Rani's house, Mohiuddin Mahmud Sohel, additional police super of the Special Branch told The Daily Star.
After being rejected, Hossen, along with his three cohorts, killed Sukloti through strangulation. They killed Chobi Rani as she was a witness to the murder, the police official added.
Parents of both victims were busy in Jhum cultivation when the murder was being carried out; he continued, adding that the accused hung the bodies with ropes on window grills, to make it look like suicide.
Suman Tripura, Chobi Rani's father, filed a case with Sitakunda Police Station on Friday, accusing four.
Iftekhar Hassan, officer-in-charge of the station, told The Daily Star that they arrested Abul Hossen, the key accused in the killing from his home yesterday.
The names of the other accused could not be revealed for the sake of investigation, he said adding that the accused was produced in court yesterday.
Md Joynal, sub-inspector of the station, who prepared the inquest of the victims' bodies, told The Daily Star that the autopsy was completed yesterday and the viscera samples will be sent for forensic tests to determine how they died.
Suman Tripura, who filed the case, told The Daily Star that they were happy that the accused had been arrested. But they believed that since the criminal was 'influential' in their locality, their safety might be compromised at any time.
“We urge police to ensure our safety”, he added.
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Related to SDG 10: Reduced inequalities and SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
