Bangladesh to charge 16 with murder of woman, 19, burned to death

Agence France-Presse
Wed 29 May 2019 08.51 BST First published on Wed 29 May 2019 08.47 BST

Bangladeshi police are set to charge 16 people, including the headteacher of an Islamic seminary, with the murder of a 19-year-old woman who was burned to death.

The killing of Nusrat Jahan Rafi last month prompted protests across Bangladesh, with the prime minister promising to prosecute all those involved.

Rafi was lured to the rooftop of the Islamic seminary she attended in her hometown of Feni, where her attackers asked her to withdraw a sexual harassment complaint filed with police against the headteacher.

When she refused, she was doused in kerosene and set on fire. She died five days later. Her death highlighted an alarming rise in sexual harassment cases in the country.

The Police Bureau of Investigation said it would file the chargesheet in a court in the south of the country on Wednesday against 16 people, including two women in the same class as Rafi. “They are charged under the women and children repression law and we will recommend the death penalty for all 16 accused,” said the PBI’s lead investigator, Mohammad Iqbal.

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