Latest update on the legal struggle of Bawm women imprisoned without trial for 670 days

Accusing with a bank robbery that took place in April 2024, a total of 30 women and children were subjected to arbitrary mass arrests. Among them, eight women have still been imprisoned without trial for 670 days. Like the others arrested in this case, four cases in total have been filed against these women under the Special Powers Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act. Nearly two years have passed, yet there has been no progress in the investigation of these cases: no charge sheets have been submitted, and the process of securing bail has been obstructed in various ways.Laltlan Kim Bawm and Partha Zual Bawm are two sisters. Over the past 22 months, their bail applications have been rejected 16 times by the High Court, the Judge Court, and the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. The bail applications of Tina Bawm and Melory Bawm have been rejected a total of 11 times by the same courts.After being denied bail in the lower courts, Laltlan Kim Bawm, Partha Zual Bawm, Tina Bawm, and Melory Bawm applied for bail in the High Court on April 28, 2025. Several benches initially expressed reluctance to hear bail petitions of these Bawm citizens arrested on suspicion of being KNF members. Eventually, after four hearings in May 2025 (May 20–21 and May 25–26), a High Court bench granted them bail. However, the state immediately appealed against the bail order, and the order was stayed on July 3, 2025. Towards the end of August 2025, the bail process for these four women had to be restarted in the lower court in Bandarban. The lower court heard the applications with the condition that they would be rejected, which they ultimately were. After rejection in the lower court, bail applications were once again filed in the High Court. On October 19, 2025, affidavits were completed in the High Court, but over the next 11 weeks (from October 19, 2025 to January 5, 2026- during which the High Court was closed for a period), hearings could not take place as four different benches expressed reluctance to hear the cases. In the meantime, the deadline for submitting the certified copies of the lower court orders expired. As a result, all the physical and mental labor, as well as the financial costs involved in applying for bail in the lower court, obtaining certified copies of rejection orders, and submitting them to the High Court, were wasted without even a proper hearing.Like the others, Lal Rin Tluang Bawm also faced four cases under the Special Powers Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act. After failing to obtain relief in the lower courts, she approached the High Court and was granted bail. However, in June 2025 (on the 2nd or 3rd), the bail orders were stayed following appeals by the state. Her bail applications then awaited hearing in the Appellate Division for six months but were never listed for hearing. Finally, in December 2025, the applications were dismissed for non-prosecution, and the entire bail process had to be restarted from the very beginning in the lower courts.Nemphen Bawm was granted bail in four cases in July and August 2025 (on July 14, July 27, and August 18, 2025). When the state appealed against the bail orders, bail was stayed in two of the cases. In one case, the Appellate Division issued a “no order,” thereby upholding the High Court’s bail order. In the fourth case, however, the Appellate Division directed that the matter be heard again in the High Court for confirmation of the bail order.Akim Bawm was not arrested along with the others. She was arrested on May 17, 2024, when she was 14 years and 10 months old. As a juvenile, she was entitled to special legal protections under the Children Act 2013, none of which were ensured. Instead, she was deprived of all educational facilities and detained with adults in the Bandarban Hill District Jail. For the first 18 months after her arrest, her family was unable to file a bail application on her behalf.In November last year, bail applications for Akim Bawm were first filed in the Bandarban Judge Court and the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, both of which were rejected. On December 4, 2025, an application was submitted to the Bandarban Hill District Juvenile Court to have Akim Bawm recognized as a child, along with a request for bail. The judge accepted the application recognizing her as a juvenile detainee and ordered the prison authorities to transfer her to the Gazipur Child Development Centre, but rejected her bail application. Since mid-December 2025, Akim Bawm has been detained at the Gazipur Child Development Centre. Meanwhile, as judges have been embarrassed to hear bail applications of anyone arrested on suspicion of being a KNF member, Akim’s bail application in the High Court remains stuck in her lawyer’s office, unlisted for hearing.The right to bail is equal for all. For 670 days, the Bawm women of Bandarban have been deprived of this right. Their bail applications continue to circulate from one court to another — the Sessions Judge Court, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, the High Court, and the Appellate Division.We demand an end to this politically motivated prolonged obstruction in granting bail.We demand the release of all innocent Bawm citizens.