National minority students, journalists, teachers and political leaders on Saturday demanded justice for the custodial death of Lal Tleng Kim Bawm, a member of Bawm community.
Lal Tleng, 29, was arrested as a suspected member of the Kuki-Chin National Front.
The demand was raised at a protest rally of Bawm Chhatra Samaj (Bawm student community) at Shahbagh in the capital.
Lal Tleng, who was in Chattogram Central Jail鈥檚 custody over his alleged involvement in bank lootings in Bandarban, died at Chattogram Medical College Hospital鈥檚 One-Stop Emergency Care Unit on May 15.
The speakers at the protest termed the mass arrest of the Bawm people in the name of involvement with the KNF and bank looting as structural marginalisation.
Bawm Ram, a student, alleged that they were fearful of visiting their homes as innocent students of different schools and colleges and even children were arrested in the name of eliminating the KNF after banks were looted in Bandarban in April, 2024.
Demanding an end to the discrimination against their community, he said, 鈥榃e want that individuals involved in the incidents are brought to justice and immediate release of the innocent.鈥�
Journalist Saydia Gulrukh said that a discrimination-free Bangladesh would not be established if the oppression on the minorities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts did not end.
She also demanded withdrawal of the army rule in the three hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban.
University of Liberal Arts teacher Oliur Sun said that repetitive repression of the Bawm people in the name of ending extremism in the CHT must stop.
The speakers also demanded release of all the innocent Bawms arrested for suspected involvement with the KNF and justice for rape and murder of Chingma Khiyang in Bandarban.
Students from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, meanwhile, organised another protest rally on the day in Chattogram city, demanding justice for Lal Tleng鈥檚 custodial death.
The Chattogram University unit of Pahari Chhatra Parishad, a national minority student organisation backed by regional political party from the CHT Jana Samhati Samity, along with the Hill Workers鈥� Welfare Forum, held the rally in the city.
On April 9, 2024, Lal Tleng was arrested for his alleged involvement in a series of armed robberies and abductions carried out allegedly by the KNF in Ruma and Thanchi upazilas of Bandarban that month.
On Thursday jail officials also said that another detained KNF suspect, Sangmoy Bawm, 55, was undergoing treatment for critical illness at Chattogram Medical College Hospital for the past one and a half months.
