Rakhine Village-Admin Beats and Attempts to Rape Rohingya Women in Buthidaung

RB News

April 11, 2018

Buthidaung, Arakan -- U Maung Kyaw Tha, a administrator of the village tract, Kagyat Phat Kan Pyin, Buthidaung Township, beat local Rohingya women from Tet Yar hamlet and also tried to rape them.

The village administrator, who is a Rakhine Buddhist, beat and harassed 'Rabiya Khatoon' by trespassing into her home along with his 2 henchmen for three consecutive nights between 4th and 6th of April. They called her 2 young single daughters out of their house at midnight [during the curfew time under the act 144] under the pretext of interrogation and attempted to rape them, RB News has been told.

Villagers say, that U Maung Kyaw Tha, the village admin, along with his two henchmen, carried out the sexual assaults on the women's dignity. He further threatened 'Rabiya Khatoon' that he would make her get arrested by the BGP (Border Guard Police) and torture her beating every night in the future had she failed to oblige to fulfill his desire.

Similarly, U Maung Kyaw Tha forcibly entered the bed room of Hussein Banu, another Rohingya woman, from Tet Yar hamlet and kept attempting to rape her from 8pm 6th April to 1am 7th April. It has been reported that, though Hussein Banu, a married woman, managed to avoid getting raped by U Maung Kyaw Tha by taking cover behind behind her children, she got beaten and kicked inhumanely as his attempt to rape her didn't succeed.

Furthermore, on that day 6th April evening, U Maung Kyaw Tha accompanied by his two henchmen, trespassing into Amina Khatoon's home, looked for her son Mohamed Shaker to arrest under accusation of having sexual relationship with his neighbour, Hussein Banu. When Mohamed Shaker was not found, they threatened the other members in the family who were present and destroyed furnitures in the house.

According to the villagers who witnessed the incident, U Maung Kyaw Tha then beat the family members and threatened to kill them if they they continued to live in their village without fleeing to Bangladesh.

Translated into English by Hein Min Maung.