He died with shackles on his dignity.
Sangmoy Bawm—a man whose name in his native tongue means “elevated radiance”—was not a militant, nor a criminal.
He was a sick, aging member of the Bawm community, a Christian Indigenous minority in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), persecuted not for deeds, but for identity.
On Sunday afternoon, Sangmoy took his final breath in his home in Bandarban.
He had just been granted bail—two days too late.
For over a year, he had languished in jail under unsubstantiated allegations.
No court could convict him.
No evidence could justify his imprisonment. Yet he was detained, denied medical care, and reduced to a skeletal frame by the time he was hospitalized. Even then, justice crawled.
His bail came only when his body had already begun to collapse.
A leader of the Bawm Social Council, Thangzél Bawm, confirmed his death.
But the most haunting tribute came from senior community leader Zir Khung Shahu, who wrote:
“Sangmoy—your name means aesthetic in the high. And now, have you ascended in radiance, luminous in your final flight? Have you found it in your soul to forgive those who wronged you—those who shackled your body in injustice, persecuted you without remorse, and smeared your name with the false stain of terrorism?
Where you dwell now—do tormentors have any place? Would you welcome those who drove you slowly, cruelly, toward death? The ones who stared at your emaciated, fading frame and still felt no stir of humanity in their hearts?
Will you forgive us—the powerless, the inept—who stood by, unable to free you, who couldn’t even secure your bail while time ran out?
O radiant one, you know—we left no door unopened in our desperate plea for justice. We went to the Chief Adviser, to the Hill Affairs Adviser. We reached out to human rights defenders, to the self-proclaimed sentinels of justice. You know how loudly they claimed to speak for you. You heard their statements—for women, for children, for imprisoned innocents.
Students from the hills and the plains marched in your name.
Now tell us—what are we to do?
From above, guide us.”
Sangmoy’s death follows that of 30-year-old Lalthleng Kim Bawm, another civilian who died inside Chattogram Central Jail under similar circumstances.
Both men were among more than 120 Bawm civilians arbitrarily detained in the wake of the Bangladesh Army’s sweeping counterinsurgency campaign in April 2024, following clashes with the shadowy armed group known as Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF).
His crime, like that of many others, was belonging to the Bawm people—a small ethnic group numbering just over 12,000, most of them Christian, living in the forested frontiers of Bandarban.
When KNF, a radical breakaway armed group, emerged from within a fraction of the Bawm population, the state chose indiscriminate repression over precision.
Entire villages were raided. Churches were searched, schools shuttered, homes demolished. Arbitrary detentions became routine, said a victiim seeking anonymity.
“Women, children, students, and the elderly were indiscriminately detained. Credible allegations of torture emerged, while medical neglect became effectively institutionalized”, he said.
The Bawm people—a culturally rich, peace-loving community—were collectively criminalized, he added.
“Sangmoy’s only offense was being Bawm, being Indigenous. The state could not prove a single charge. Then why was he imprisoned? Why did he die in medical agony, alone and abandoned? Who will hold to account those who watched this slow execution unfold?” — asked another Indigenous leader, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal.
In Bangladesh’s militarized periphery, justice operates in shadows. The state’s campaign against KNF has morphed into a campaign against a people. What began as a security operation has metastasized into ethnic erasure, he said.
No one was ever tried for the deaths of Sangmoy or Lalthleng. No officer faced consequences. No institution apologized.
“The government of Bangladesh must immediately allow independent investigations into the deaths of Sangmoy Bawm and Lalthleng Kim”, he added.
Following Kim’s death, protesters in Bandarban, Chattogram, and Dhaka demanded the immediate release of all remaining Bawm detainees—or their trial under transparent and lawful due process without delay.
Source : The Chittagong Hill Tracts
