Bangladesh has erupted into fury over the burning death of a young woman who courageously reported an incident of sexual harassment to the local authorities and suffered the ultimate consequence.
What Is The Background?
Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, from a small town 100 miles (160 km) south of Dhaka, was attending a madrassa, or Islamic school when the sexual assault took place. Rafi recounted that her headmaster summoned her to his office before touching her inappropriately. Realizing the seriousness of her situation, Rafi did the right thing — fled the room and went to the authorities. Unfortunately, in an extremely conservative Muslim religious society, matters of sexual harassment and assault remain rather taboo subjects. To her bemusement, Rafi found herself being filmed when making a statement to the police. Understanding the danger she would be in if the footage were released, she attempted to cover her face. The police officer can be heard telling her that it is “no big deal” and repeatedly asks her to stop hiding. But as soon as her identity was revealed, it was too late — the mobile phone footage was leaked to the local press and the brave young woman immediately found herself in grave peril.
What Happened Next?
With most cases of sexual assault and harassment going unreported, Rafi became a prime target for those who disapproved of her attempted legal action. Then, after police decided to arrest the headmaster, things got even worse. Before long, the mob had gathered momentum, and a group of people were protesting outside the police station, demanding the headmaster’s release. According to the BBC, the protest had been arranged by two male students and “local politicians were allegedly in attendance.” Still, the courageous teen kept attending school, working hard and attempting to complete her studies. Then, on April 6, the worst-case scenario became a stark reality. As Rafi’s brother walked his sister to her exams, he was stopped and she was asked to follow a female student to the rooftop. “I tried to take my sister to school and tried to enter the premises, but I was stopped and wasn’t allowed to enter,” said Rafi’s brother, Mahmudul Hasan Noman.
Informed that one of her friends was getting beaten up, Rafi dutifully followed the girl, only to find an aggressive group burqa-wearing students who demanded that she immediately withdraw her allegations. When she refused, they doused her with gasoline and lit a match. Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder noted that the killers wanted “to make it look like a suicide.” But Rafi, determined as ever, managed to survive after her cowardly attackers fled. Barely alive, she had suffered burns that covered some 80 percent of her body. Before she succumbed to her devastating injuries, she had one final message of defiance. “The teacher touched me — I will fight this crime till my last breath,” she said in the ambulance.
On April 10, Nusrat Jahan Rafi died.