DHAKA: According to the police reports released today (Friday), a schoolgirl was burned to death, when she accused her head teacher for sexually harassing her. The student was burnt on the orders of the accused. As a result of Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s death, the entire South Asian region began protests. The Bangladeshi premier promised to prosecute all those involved. Rafi was lured to the rooftop of the institution that she attended whereby her attackers forced her to withdraw her allegations from the law-enforcing authorities. Upon her refusal, she was doused in kerosene and set on fire. that One of the 17 people arrested in connection with her death had accused the school’s principal of ordering the attack, says the police. The teacher “told them to put pressure on Rafi to withdraw the case or kill her if she refused”, senior police superintendent Mohammad Iqbal, who is leading the investigation, told AFP. Rafi went to the police for registering complaint late in March. Although a video shows the officer writing down her complaint, he dismissed it as “not a big deal”. Iqbal said at least five of those under arrest, including three of Rafi’s classmates, had tied her up with a scarf before setting her on fire. “The plan was to pass the incident off as a suicide. But it fell through after Rafi managed to come downstairs while on fire because the scarf burnt and freed her hands and feet,” he said. Rafi was burnt at the orders of the principal, she recorded a video repeating her allegations before dying She died on April 10, succumbing to burns that covered 80% of her body. However, she recorded a video before her death, repeating her allegations against the principal. “The teacher touched me, I will fight this crime till my last breath,” she said. She also identified some of her attackers. The case has caused outrage in Bangladesh, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowing that “none of the culprits will be spared legal action.” Rights groups declare that the crimes against women, especially rape and harassment had surged because the authorities had failed to execute the perpetrators. “The horrifying murder of a brave woman who sought justice shows how badly the Bangladesh government has failed victims of sexual assault,” Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s death highlights the need for the Bangladesh government to take survivors of sexual assault seriously and ensure that they can safely seek a legal remedy and be protected from retaliation,” she added.