In shocking news, a teenaged school girl in Bangladesh was ‘allegedly burnt to death’ by her madrasa principal because she reported a sexual harassment case against him, leading to nationwide protests in the nation.
The deceased identified as Nusrat Jahan Rafi, an 18-year-old girl was burnt alive in her school (madrasa) on April 6 by ‘four burqa-clad assailants’ few days after she complained against principal Siraj-Ud-Daula for inappropriately touching her after calling her in his office cabin.
Siraj is one of the 17 people arrested related to the case.
Nusrat Jahan Rafi succumbed to the injuries on April 10. Her demise triggered protests across Bangladesh with people on Thursday organising big human chains and holding placards seeking justice for the victim.
The message showed strict punishment for the victim’s murderers and also expressed condolences to her deprived family, as reported by the Dhaka Tribune. Online news portal bdnews24.com quoted police department as saying that Siraj planned the killing of Rafi from jail itself following his arrest on March 27 in the case.
Deputy Inspector General Ruhul Amin, who is leading the investigation committee, said the probe that has been initiated will take several more days for a possible solution as investigators are inspecting various documents.
He said, adding that Siraj had a history of bad behaviour that was known to the ‘madrasa governing body’. The police officer also hinted at the involvement of political leaders in the killing.
Local politics is also connected with the Nusrat incident. Two councillors from a party formed human-chain programmes for and against the principal, he added. As per the report, the police is also investigating whether there has been a lack of attention on the part of police while probing the murder case.
“We have found preliminary evidence against the former officer-in-charge of Sonagazi police station and senior police officers. We are taking this very seriously and are looking into it,” he said.
But, had the local administration and madrasa managing committee taken action when the sexual harassment was first reported, this tragedy could have been avoided, he added.