Sexual violence against indigenous Marma girl in Khagrachhari

A horrific case of sexual violence against an indigenous Marma schoolgirl in Bangladesh’s Khagrachhari city:

A 12-year-old indigenous Marma schoolgirl was gang-raped by 3 Bengali settler youths in Khagrachhari, a city in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh. The incident took place on September 23, 2025, between 9 and 11 pm on the eastern side of the Shasana Raxmit Buddhist Vihara in Singinala Ward No.1 of Khagrachari Municipality. The victim is a high-school student of Khagrachari Government Girls’ High School.

Sadar Police Station said they arrested one suspect, named Shayan Shill, involved in the assualt and took him on remand on Thursday. They also claimed that efforts are underway to arrest other rapists. Although the names of the other perpetrators are still unknown, the sources from victim’s family say that the victim did recognize the Bengali settler youths who committed the heinous assault.

On Wednesday, early morning, the victim’s father, Mongsajaing Marma (48), filed a case at the Khagrachari Sadar Police Station as the plaintiff. While filing the case, he wanted to mention the rapists as “Bengali settler youths”, but the police officer on duty urged him to mention the perpetrators as “3 unidentified people” instead.

According to the local sources, the victim used to visit her private tutor, Uchaching Marma’s residence in the same area every day at around 6 pm and used to return home by around 9 pm. On the day of the incident, she visited Uchaching for private lessons but did not return home even after 9:30 pm. Her worried father went to Uchaching looking for her but was informed that his daughter had already left for home at 9 pm as usual.

Then, worried Mongsajaing started searching for his daughter with the help of relatives and villagers. At around 11 pm, the victim was found unconscious in a soil stockpile area on the eastern side of the Buddhist monastery located in Singinala Ward number 1. According to the statements of the victim and her father, when the victim reached close to Savita Chakma’s shop on her way back home around 9 pm, 3 Bengali settler youths grabbed her from behind and forcibly took her to the above-mentioned area on the east side of the Buddhist monastery. The perpetrators sprayed anesthetic on the victim’s nose and mouth before committing the assault.

We, Spectrum Rights Observatory, strongly condemn the horrific assault committed by the illegal Bengali settlers and demand the Bangladeshi authorities to take prompt legal actions to bring all the perpetrators to justice.