Rangamati, August 28, 2025 – Disturbing reports have emerged from the Kengrachhari Union of Bilaichhari Upazila, Rangamati district, where an alleged pre-dawn army operation left a Jumma villager critically injured and sparked outrage over an attempted sexual assault on his wife.
According to local sources, around 4 a.m. today, a group of soldiers from the 17 BIR, Jibtoli Army Camp, forcibly entered the home of Antor Chakma (32), a fish farmer by profession. In the raid, household belongings including furniture, solar panels, and other essentials were vandalized. When Antor resisted the harassment, soldiers allegedly shot him in the hand and leg, leaving him seriously wounded before detaining him.
The incident took a darker turn when soldiers physically assaulted his wife, Urmi Chakma, subjecting her to strangulation and molestation. Witnesses claim that the troops even attempted to rape her and threatened both gang rape and sexual violence against their five-year-old daughter if she resisted. Urmi, who had undergone kidney surgery three years ago, was further brutalized as soldiers struck her at her surgical wound site.
The violence did not stop there. The same army team allegedly raided the house of Antor’s father and brutally beat his younger brother, Riton Chakma (18), along with relatives. Witnesses reported that soldiers used rifle butts and boots to assault them.
After the attack, Antor Chakma was taken in an injured state to Hajachhara Army Camp, later shifted to Gachkatachhara Army Camp for treatment, and finally handed over to Rangamati Kotwali Police Station, where locals allege a false case was filed against him.
This incident comes against the backdrop of a widening military crackdown across the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Over recent weeks, multiple upazilas including Jurachhari, Bilaichhari, Dighinala, Panchhari, Ruma, Roangchhari, and Thanchi have witnessed intensified army operations marked by house raids, interrogations, arbitrary arrests, torture, and intimidation of Jumma villagers.
Just two days earlier, on August 26, 17 innocent villagers were detained and tortured during a military operation in Jurachhari, sparking fear of a return to the oppressive practices reminiscent of the pre-CHT Accord era.
This latest incident in Bilaichhari has once again raised urgent concerns over human rights violations, militarization, and the safety of vulnerable communities in the CHT.
Source : Hill Voice
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