Bangladeshi girl burned to death after accusing principal of sexual harassment: I'll fight to the end with one last breath

Recently, in Bangladesh, a sexual violence incident caused social concern. According to the BBC, 19-year-old Girl Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who accused the principal, Siraj-Ud-Daula, of sexualharassment of her, was taken to the top floor two weeks later and threatened to withdraw her complaint against the principal, but Nusrat did not, so they set her on fire and eventually Nusrat He was taken to hospital.

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Nusrat comes from the small town of Feni in Dhaka, bangladesh's capital, where she attends an Islamic school. On March 27, 2019, Nusrat alleged that principal Siraj-Ud-Daula had called her to the office and sexually harassed her. After The Nusrat report, the police arrested the principal. However, a crowd gathered in the streets to demand the release of the principal, a protest organized by two male students and involving local politicians. Gradually, people began to blame Nusrat, and her family was worried about her safety.

On April 6, Nusrat went to school for the final exam. At the time, her brother, Mahmudul Hasan Noman, tried to accompany Nusrat to school for her sister's safety, but was stopped.

"I tried to take my sister to school and tried to enter the premises, buti i wass sadand and yn't leted to enter. If I dyn't bed, a i'r lik this wouldn't't have happened to my sister."
"I wanted to take my sister into the school, but I was prevented from entering the school. If I hadn't been stopped, my sister wouldn't have done it. 」

The temporarily rescued Nusrat recalls the incident: a girl and Nusrat said her friend was beaten, and Nusrat followed the girl to the school's top floor. When Nusrat reached the top floor, four to five men in masked robes surrounded her, pressuring her to withdraw her complaint against the principal. After Nusrat refused, the men set her on fire.

Banaj Kumar Majumder, a local police officer, said the perpetrators wanted to disguise the case as suicide. Fortunately, Nusrat was rescued after the perpetrator fled the scene, which led to the collapse of the calculation.

Unfortunately, when Nusrat was taken to the hospital, doctors found that her body burned up to 80% of the area. Unable to treat her at the local hospital, she was taken to a hospital in Dhaka. In the ambulance, Nusrat felt that she might not be able to get away with it, so she recorded a statement on her brother's cell phone.

"The teacher touched me, i will fight this crime till my last breath."
"The teacher did touch me. Even if only one breath left, I will fight to the end. 」

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Nusrat died in hospital on April 10. Thousands of people came to Feeney's funeral to mourn. This matter has also attracted widespread attention in the Bangladeshi media.

On 14 April, two male classmates, Nuruddin and Shamim, who were in the same school as Nusrat, pleaded guilty to the police, according to bdnews24. Police Chief Taherul Haque Chauhan said that according to the statement, they had followed instructions from the principal, Siraj-Ud-Daula, to commit the crime.

Shamim admitted that Nusrat had previously repeatedly refused his courtship and courtship, which had become a strong motive for his involvement in the crime. (Extended reading:Gender Watch: Gender Education That Society Needs: Rejection Is A Given, Accepted Is Not)

Police said 15 people had been arrested, seven of them in connection with the case. Siraj-Ud-Daula, the principal accused of sexual harassment, remains in custody.

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, met with Nusrat's family and promised to bring to justice everyone involved in the case.

"None of the culprits will be spared from legal action."
"No criminal is immune from the law. 」

The incident sparked violent protests, with thousands of people expressing their anger and concern over the plight of victims of sexual assault in Bangladesh via social media.

According to women's rights group Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, there were 940 rapes in Bangladesh in 2018, and researchers believe the true number could be even higher.

"When a woman tries to get justice for sexual harassment, she's bound to face it again. The case will continue to affect her, the community is ashamed of it, and the police lack the will to investigate. Salma Ali, a human rights lawyer, said, "In this way, victims are given up on seeking justice, and the perpetrators are always spared punishment and thus continue to commit crimes." 」

In fact, as early as a decade ago, in 2009, Bangladesh's Supreme Court required all educational institutions to set up departments or centers dedicated to sexual harassment, where students could file complaints, but few schools took action. Now, local advocates in Bangladesh have called for the matter to be implemented in deed and incorporated into law to protect students.

Violence is the trauma that makes women fear.

From this incident, we can observe two things: one is that gender-based violence is often a means of "revenge";

The schoolprincipal who sexually harassed Nusrat reportedly, instead of reflecting after his arrest, brought in a group of people to intimidate And saim Nusrat, while Nusrat's classmate, Shamim, was rejected for courtship and also chose to use violence against Nusrat. When a man wants to "revenge" a woman, what he wants and does is often physical violence.

In Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Administrative Council, in 105 years, Taiwanese women were subjected to a statistical survey of intimate intimacy violence, and the biological sex of the perpetrators was as high as 98.9% of the female and 1.1% female.

According to the United Nations, more than 70 percent of women worldwide have experienced threats of violence in their lifetimes. Whether it's rape or domestic violence, etc., it's rated by psychologists and sexologists as more frightening traumas for women than death.

In 2014, an Iranian girl was sentenced to death for acting in self-defense against rape, and in 2015, a Turkish university girl was raped by a bus driver who pulled out pepper spray and sprayed the driver in the face, who, in anger, pulled out a knife and iron rod and attacked her to death. In 2016, an Argentine girl was beaten multiple times by a drug lord and stabbed with a tip, causing heart failure;

Gender-based violence has never gone away. It may be far away, it may be in your life around. The issue of gender-based violence is not a matter of "them" but of "us". As long as the structure exists, gender-based violence is everywhere.

It's not better to say it: Victims of condemned sexual violence

Many people have discussed: Why did the whole thing get the public's attention after the Nusrat attack? Will this case change the way People in Bangladesh view sexual violence?

Many Bangladeshi women choose to keep sexual harassment or assault confidential for fear of being humiliated by the public or their families. Nusrat made the brave decision, and she chose to come forward and expose it all, but the result of her resistance left her in a more painful tragedy.

We will find that when the social atmosphere is not friendly or even hostile to victims of sexual violence, the situation of these victims will be even more difficult. Many times, when sexual violence occurs, the public is used to looking at or reviewing the victims first - are you over-dressed? Are you going to bad places alone? Or did you say something provocative to the perpetrator?

An Anowar Sheikh, a Bangladeshi, posted on the BBC's Bangladesh Chinese's Facebook page: "Many girls in similar incidents have not resisted because of fear. Masked robes, even clothes made of iron, do not stop rapists. 」

In this social climate of condemning victims of sexual violence, for victims, not only does things not get better, but even leads to a greater risk of violence.

"This This has has has shaken n us, but as we have seen in the past, such incidents get forget in time. I don't think there will be a big change after this. We have to see if justice gets done."
"We are shocked by this incident. But as we have seen in the past, these things will be forgotten over time. I don't think there will be much change after this event. We must be concerned about whether justice is done. 」
- Gayen, Professor, University of Dhaka

We should raise awareness of sexual violence from an early age, and this needs to be done by families and schools. At the same time, the community must also pay attention to the experience of the victims, in addition to the police do enforce the law, the public should also give victims the peace of mind to speak out about the experience of sexual violence atmosphere.

Victims of sexual violence, in addition to having to endure physical torture, are more often the lingering psychological shadow and mental stress. Please be gentle with survivors of sexual violence and accompany them on the long road to recovery. (Recommended Reading: Face Sexual Assault: Write Down Your Pain)