Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a student at a Madrassa in South Dhaka, was burnt alive on her school rooftop about a week ago.
All because she did not withdraw her police complaint against her headmaster for sexually harassing her at school.
According to the BBC, on March 27, her headmaster called Nusrat into his office and touched her inappropriately. On the same day, she went to the police station with her family to report the incident.
However, the policemen allegedly called her complaint “no big deal” and filmed as she spoke about the harassment. They, nevertheless, registered the complaint and arrested the headmaster and thereafter, things went spiralled downwards.
After the arrest, a group of male students protested against Nusrat and demanded the immediate release of the headmaster.
Nusrat’s death
On April 6, when Nusrat went to school again to write her exam, she told the BBC that her friend took her to the school’s roof and suddenly four or five burqa-clad men appeared and asked her to withdraw the case.
She stood firm and refused to do so.
As a result, the group surrounded her, doused kerosene on her and set her on fire. Nusrat was rescued when the men fled from the scene.
On her way to the hospital, she gave a statement which her brother recorded on his phone.
“The teacher touched me, I will fight this crime till my last breath,” she said. Alongside, she also stated that some of her attackers were students at the madrassa.
She died on April 10.
Protest and human chains
People across Bangladesh gathered at her funeral at Feni demanding severe punishment for the headmaster as well as the men who burnt her alive.
According to Bangladesh’s english newspaper The Daily Star, the incident lead to protests all across the country.
Samajtantrik Mahila Forum, a left-leaning women’s organisation, held a rally demanding harsh punishment to the attackers. Leaders and activists of the forum also formed a human chain outside the Jatiya press club to express their anger against the incident.
They also called out the rising “culture of impunity” in the country which has led to an increase in violence against women.
In Feni – Nusrat’s hometown – various social, human rights groups and NGOs formed a human chain at Shaheed Minar Chattar.
As the protest gained momentum, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met Nusrat’s parents, consoled them and expressed her deep sympathy. The Dhaka Tribune quoted her as saying, “None of culprits will be spared from legal action.”
Parents and two brothers of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a female madrasa student from Feni who has been burned to death over her protest against sexual assault, met Prime Minister #SheikhHasina on Monday. #Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/d9A2BIdt2s
— Moazzem Hossain (@Moazzem26935240) April 16, 2019
Cases of sexual harassment at schools are rampant in India as well.
In 2018, a music teacher at Dehradun’s model school sexually harassed a group of visually challenged female students in the campus, Newsclick reported. Another music teacher, reportedly, harassed students in April last year.
Similarly, in October 2018, a school teacher at a Mumbai-based school – who was convicted for molesting three minor – re-joined the school within two months of the court order, India Today reported.
Featured image credit: Twitter