Female student burnt to death for reporting sexual harassment by headmaster
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*DHAKA - Nineteen-year-old Nusrat Jahan Rafi was burned to death on April 6 for reporting sexual harassment against her headmaster in Bangladesh.*
She was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her madrassa in Bangladesh, *BBC* reported. Rafi was from Feni, a small town 100 miles south of Dhaka.
She alleged on March 27 that her headmaster called her into his office and “repeatedly touched her” in an inappropriate manner. Before things could escalate, she fled.
Rafi went to the local police with her family to file a complaint. At the station, instead of been given a safe environment to talk about her trauma, she was filmed by the officer on his phone while she gave her statement.
The headmaster was arrested by the police but a group of people gathered in the streets demanding his release. The protest was arranged by two male students and local politicians also attended, according to reports.
Her family said they started to worry about the girl’s safety and on April 6, 11 days after the assault, she had to go to the school to give her final exams.
“I took my sister to school and tried to enter the premises, but I was stopped and wasn’t allowed to enter,” said Nusrat’s brother, Mahmudul Hasan Noman. “If I hadn’t been stopped, something like this wouldn’t have happened to my sister,” he said.
Rafi was taken to the roof by a female student, saying one of her friends was being beaten up. She was threatened by four to five people in burqas to withdraw the case. When she refused to accept their terms, they set her on fire.
