Cox's Bazar hotels warned: legal action if rooms rented to minors without NID

Hotels in Cox's Bazar will face legal action against their owners and managers if evidence is found that rooms were rented to underage girls staying with boyfriends without national identity cards (NID), reserved-seat MP and Cox's Bazar district BNP general secretary Shamim Ara Swapna has warned.

She made the remarks on Saturday (24 October) at noon at a views-exchange meeting organised by the Cox's Bazar district administration. The meeting brought together hotel, motel and restaurant owners, tourism-related businesspeople and stakeholders with the aim of ensuring safe tourism in the district.

At the meeting, Shamim Ara Swapna said young girls are nowadays seen arriving at hotels in Cox's Bazar holding their boyfriends' hands. They are underage and not yet old enough to stay in a hotel on their own, yet they are allowed to stay without any NID — which is a serious offence in law.

She said incidents of various kinds are happening as a result. Some are losing their lives out on the streets, while others are choosing the path of suicide. She indicated that hotel authorities cannot evade their responsibility when it comes to protecting minors.

Calling Cox's Bazar the most beautiful tourism area in the country, she said such a situation cannot be allowed to continue there. Appealing to hotel owners, she said anyone arriving with their parents may stay, but no one arriving with a boyfriend will be allowed to stay in a hotel without a national identity card.

She made clear once again that if such incidents are detected even after this warning, legal action will be taken against the hotel owners and managers concerned. In other words, after this caution there will be no leniency on the issue — that was the message of her speech at the meeting.

Behind the warning lies a recent sensational incident. On 8 October, the recovery of the body of Jannatul Tajmin, a class-seven schoolgirl in Cumilla, caused a nationwide sensation.

The 13-year-old student, before she was killed, had stayed at a hotel in Cox's Bazar with her alleged boyfriend Raju under the name 'Tanzu Akter'. In that hotel's register, her age was recorded as 18 — although her real age was only 13.

That incident showed how dangerous a failure to verify age in the hotel registration process can be. When rooms are rented under false names and wrong ages, minors easily fall into danger.

The image of Cox's Bazar as a safe tourism destination is also at stake. As the country's main beach town, thousands of tourists arrive here every day, and stakeholders at the meeting discussed how reports of irregularities in hotels could erode public trust in the tourism sector.

Hotel, motel and restaurant owners and tourism-related businesspeople attended the meeting. The main purpose of the exchange, organised by the district administration, was to remind all sides of their responsibilities in ensuring safe tourism.

It now remains to be seen how strictly hotels begin checking NIDs and ages in guest registration after this warning. Local people hope that if the instruction is enforced, the risk to minors will fall.