16 charged in Bangladesh for burning girl alive

World Thursday 30/May/2019 14:40 PM
By: Times News Service
16 charged in Bangladesh for burning girl alive

Dhaka: Sixteen people have been charged in Bangladesh over the shocking murder of a teenage girl, who was burned to death after reporting sexual harassment.

Nineteen-year-old Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire on the roof of her Islamic school on April 6, 2019, days after filing a complaint.

Her school’s Headmaster Siraj Ud Doula, targeted in the complaint, is among those charged.

Police say he ordered her murder from prison when she refused to withdraw her accusations against him.

The accused described the preparations for the killing as being like a "military plan".

The case sparked mass protests in Bangladesh and shone a light on the vulnerability of victims of sexual assault and harassment in the country.

Rafi filed a police complaint against Doula in late March and he was arrested. On April 6, she attended the school to sit her final exams when she was allegedly lured to the roof of the school and set alight by a group of people wearing burkas, a one-piece veil that covers the face and body.

They had planned to make it look like a suicide, police said, but Rafi - who suffered burns to 80% of her body - was able to give a statement before she died on April 10.