On September 24, 2025, the Bangladesh Marma Students Council (BMSC) organized a protest rally at Khagrachhari, demanding exemplary punishment for three settlers accused of gang-raping a 12-year-old indigenous girl. The gathering, attended by student leaders and activists from multiple organizations, strongly condemned the recurring pattern of sexual violence against indigenous women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators.
Speakers at the rally linked the violence to systemic discrimination and militarization in the hills. BMSC Dhaka Metropolitan General Secretary Saching Marma said rape, oppression, and murder are not isolated incidents but part of a “blueprint” to consolidate settler presence and silence indigenous voices. Several leaders—including Lal Ri Thang BOM, Liton Tripura, and DUCSU member Hema Chakma—pointed to negligence by the administration, a lack of justice in previous cases, and the mainstream media’s silence on such crimes.
Pahari Chhatra Parishad leader Shanti Moy Chakma highlighted that the Khagrachhari case follows earlier unresolved rapes, including the killing of Chingma Kheyang in Thanchi in May. Ananta Tanchangya of the Indigenous Students’ Movement Council said, “If there were no settlers in the hills, heinous incidents like rape would not have happened,” adding that biased media coverage and the non-implementation of the CHT Accord enable such violence.
Presiding over the rally, BMSC General Secretary Anshsing Marma warned that continued impunity may push indigenous youth toward taking the law into their own hands. He noted that in the past two months alone, six incidents of sexual violence in the CHT have involved settler perpetrators, with no parallel cases of such crimes by indigenous men against Bengalis. Protesters demanded fair trials, strict punishment for the culprits, and effective state action to ensure the safety of indigenous women in both the hills and plains.
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