Residential hotel owners and managers in Cox’s Bazar will face legal action if they are found renting rooms to underage girls staying with their boyfriends without national identity cards, reserved-seat lawmaker Shamima Ara Swapna warned on Saturday.
Swapna, also general secretary of Cox’s Bazar district BNP, issued the warning at a meeting organised by the district administration at the Public Library Auditorium in Cox’s Bazar town.
The meeting brought together hotel, motel and restaurant owners, tourism business leaders and other stakeholders amid concerns over recent incidents involving tourists.
Swapna said underage girls had recently been arriving at local hotels with their boyfriends, although they were not old enough to stay in hotels on their own.
She described allowing them to check in without national identity cards as a serious legal offence, saying such practices could lead to tragic incidents, including deaths and suicides.
The lawmaker said minors travelling with their parents would be allowed to stay in hotels, but underage girls arriving with their boyfriends should not be given accommodation without presenting national identity cards.
She warned that hotel owners and managers found violating these instructions would face strict legal action.
The warning followed the recovery of the body of Jannatul Tazmin, 13, a seventh-grade student, in Cumilla on 8 October, an incident that drew nationwide attention.
Before her killing, Jannatul had stayed at a hotel in Cox’s Bazar with her alleged boyfriend Raju under the name Tanju Akter, with her age recorded as 18 in the hotel’s register.
Referring to the incident, Cox’s Bazar Superintendent of Police ANM Sajedur Rahman said the district had been drawn into the controversy.
He alleged that a group was trying to discourage tourists from visiting Cox’s Bazar and encourage them to travel abroad instead.
The police official stressed the need to prevent negative publicity and promote a positive image of the district to protect its tourism industry.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Abdul Mannan chaired the meeting.
Cox’s Bazar-3 lawmaker Lutfur Rahman Kajol, officials from the Fire Service, Department of Environment and other government agencies, along with business representatives, also addressed the gathering.
The meeting followed two deadly incidents in the district earlier this month.
On 17 October, a fire at Tuptup Resto & Resort in the Inani Patuartek area along the Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf Marine Drive killed 10 tourists.
On 21 October, five tourists died while bathing in the sea at Himchhari beach.
With the tourism season under way, stakeholders welcomed the dialogue between the administration and tourism businesses as an effort to reduce risks and ensure safer travel.
