{"id":608586,"date":"2019-04-18T14:21:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T14:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"
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Nusrat Jahan Rafi wa"},"modified":"2019-04-18T14:21:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T14:21:57","slug":"burned-to-death-for-reporting-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/18\/burned-to-death-for-reporting-sexual-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Burned to death for reporting sexual harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school in Bangladesh. Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a sexual harassment complaint against her headmaster.<\/p>\n

Her courage in speaking out against sexual assault, her death five days after being set alight and everything that happened in-between has gripped Bangladesh and brought attention to the vulnerability of sexual harassment victims in this conservative South Asian country.<\/p>\n

Nusrat, who was 19, was from Feni, a small town 100 miles (160km) south of Dhaka. She was studying at a madrassa, or Islamic school. On 27 March, she said the headmaster called her into his office and repeatedly touched her in an inappropriate manner. Before things could go any further she ran out.<\/p>\n

Many girls and young women in Bangladesh choose to keep their experiences of sexual harassment or abuse secret for fear of being shamed by society or their families. What made Nusrat Jahan different is that she didn\u2019t just speak out \u2013 she went to the police with the help of her family on the day the alleged abuse happened.<\/p>\n

At the local police station she gave a statement. She should have been provided with a safe environment to recall her traumatic experiences. Instead she was filmed by the officer in charge on his phone as she described the ordeal.<\/p>\n

In the video Nusrat is visibly distressed and tries to hide her face with her hands. The policeman is heard calling the complaint \u201cno big deal\u201d and telling her to move her hands from her face. The video was later leaked to local media.<\/p>\n

\u2018I tried to take her to school\u2019<\/h2>\n

Nusrat Jahan Rafi was from a small town, came from a conservative family, and went to a religious school. For a girl in her position, reporting sexual harassment can come with consequences. Victims often face judgement from their communities, harassment, in person and online, and in some cases violent attacks. Nusrat went on to experience all of these.<\/p>\n

On 27 March, after she went to the police, they arrested the headmaster. Things then got worse for Nusrat. A group of people gathered in the streets demanding his release. The protest had been arranged by two male students and local politicians were allegedly in attendance. People began to blame Nusrat. Her family say they started to worry about her safety.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, on 6 April, 11 days after the alleged sexual assault, Nusrat went to her school to sit her final exams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to take my sister to school and tried to enter the premises, but I was stopped and wasn\u2019t allowed to enter,\u201d said Nusrat\u2019s brother, Mahmudul Hasan Noman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t been stopped, something like this wouldn\u2019t have happened to my sister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to a statement given by Nusrat, a fellow female student took her to the roof of the school, saying one of her friends was being beaten up. When Nusrat reached the rooftop four or five people, wearing burqas, surrounded her and allegedly pressured her to withdraw the case against the headmaster. When she refused, they set her on fire.<\/p>\n

Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder said the killers wanted \u201cto make it look like a suicide\u201d. Their plan failed when Nusrat was rescued after they fled the scene. She was able to give a statement before she died.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the killers was holding her head down with his hands, so kerosene wasn\u2019t poured there and that\u2019s why her head wasn\u2019t burned,\u201d Mr Majumder told BBC Bengali.<\/p>\n

But when Nusrat was taken to a local hospital, doctors found burns covering 80% of her body. Unable to treat the burns, they sent her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.<\/p>\n

In the ambulance, fearing she might not survive, she recorded a statement on her brother\u2019s mobile phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teacher touched me, I will fight this crime till my last breath,\u201d you can hear her say.<\/p>\n

She also identified some of her attackers as students at the madrassa.<\/p>\n

News of Nusrat\u2019s health dominated Bangladeshi media. On 10 April, she died. Thousands of people turned out for her funeral in Feni.<\/p>\n

Police have since arrested 15 people, seven of them allegedly involved in the murder. Among those arrested are the two male students who organised the protest in support of the headmaster. The headmaster himself remains in custody. The policeman who filmed Nusrat\u2019s sexual harassment complaint has been removed from his post and transferred to another department.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met Nusrat\u2019s family in Dhaka and promised that every person involved in the killing would be bought to justice. \u201cNone of the culprits will be spared from legal action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nusrat\u2019s death has sparked protests and thousands have used social media to express their anger about both her case and the treatment of sexual assault victims in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany girls don\u2019t protest out of fear after such incidents. Burqas, even dresses made of iron cannot stop rapists,\u201d said Anowar Sheikh on BBC Bengali\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a daughter my whole life, but now I am afraid. Giving birth to a daughter in this country means a life of fear and worry,\u201d wrote Lopa Hossain in her Facebook post.<\/p>\n

According to women\u2019s rights group Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, there were 940 incidents of rape in Bangladesh in 2018. But researchers say the real number is likely to be much higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a woman tries to get justice for sexual harassment, she has to face a lot of harassment again. The case lingers for years, there is shaming in society, a lack of willingness from police to properly investigate the allegations,\u201d said Salma Ali, a human rights lawyer and former director of the Women Lawyers\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt leads the victim to give up on seeking justice. Ultimately the criminals don\u2019t get punished and they do the same crime again. Others don\u2019t fear to do the same because of such examples.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now people are asking: Why did Nusrat\u2019s case only get attention after she was attacked? And will her case change the way people view sexual harassment in Bangladesh?<\/p>\n

In 2009, the country\u2019s Supreme Court passed an order to establish sexual harassment cells in all educational institutions where students can take their complaints, but very few schools have taken up the initiative. Activists are now demanding the order be implemented and enshrined in law to protect students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident has shaken us, but as we have seen in the past, such incidents get forgotten in time. I don\u2019t think there will be a big change after this. We have to see if justice gets done,\u201d said Professor Kaberi Gayen of the University of Dhaka.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange has to come in, both psychologically and in implementing the rule of law. Awareness about sexual harassment should be raised from childhood in schools,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to learn what is right and wrong when it comes to sexual harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n

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