Teen in Bangladesh burned to death after reporting sexual harassment

In late March, a 19-year-old girl in Bangladesh told police that the headmaster at her madrassah had sexually harassed her, prompting his arrest. After the video of her statement was leaked to social media, she was burned to death on the roof of her school by a group of people, some of whom she identified as fellow students before she died.


As the BBC reports, Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who hailed from the small town of Feni and came from a conservative religious family, said that on March 27 she was called to the headmaster’s office. She claimed later that the headmaster, Ud Doula, had touched her in inappropriate ways, prompting her to flee. That very day, she went to the police, where she offered a statement that was videotaped by the police officer in charge.

Buzzfeed News reported, “The police officer is heard saying it's ‘not a big deal’ and telling her to ‘move your hands from the face, stop crying, nothing happened that you have to cry.’" The video was later leaked to local media.

The headmaster was arrested that day, but then male students launched a protest demanding he be released. From there things got worse for the girl; people blamed her instead of the headmaster.