A former Islamic school principal in Bangladesh who burned to death a female student who had reported sexual harassment to police was sentenced to death again on appeal.
According to AFP and the Asia News Network (ANN) on the 25th local time, the Bangladesh Court of Appeal the previous day sentenced former principal SM Siraj ud-Daulah, who was indicted on murder charges, and an associate to death, the same as in the first trial.
Of the 14 accomplices who were also sentenced to death in the first trial, 4 had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment, and the remaining 10 were acquitted. The appellate panel was said to have pointed out that the first-instance court handed down death sentences uniformly to all defendants. The specific reasons for the guilty and not-guilty determinations have not been confirmed because the written judgment has not yet been released.
The incident occurred in April 2019 in Feni, about 100 kilometers from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Nusrath Jahan Rafi, then 19, reported to police with her parents that she had been sexually harassed by Daulah, who was the principal. Daulah was later arrested on sexual harassment charges, but had associates threaten Rafi's family to withdraw the complaint.
He had accomplices summon Rafi to the school rooftop and demand that she withdraw the complaint. When Rafi refused, they doused her with kerosene and set her on fire, and she died four days later after suffering burns to 80% of her body. During this process, Daulah was found to have even instructed the accomplices to kill Rafi if necessary.
As the case became known, protests demanding harsh punishment for the perpetrators and protection of women's rights took place across Bangladesh. The victim's family said they have recently received threatening messages hinting at retaliation and were said to have asked the government for personal protection.