Bangladesh’s High Court delivered a major judgment on Monday in the murder case of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, upholding the death sentences of two defendants while commuting four sentences to life imprisonment and acquitting 10 others.
The two death sentences upheld were those of former Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasah principal Siraj Ud Doula and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.
Four other defendants received life imprisonment, while 10 were acquitted following the High Court’s review of the death reference and appeals.
The original Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal verdict in October 2019 had sentenced all 16 defendants to death.
The High Court criticised that approach. According to the attorney general, the bench described the blanket imposition of death sentences on all 16 defendants as lacking adequate judicial assessment of their individual roles and directed authorities to remove the trial judge from exercising criminal trial and sentencing powers.
Nusrat’s case became one of Bangladesh’s defining stories about sexual harassment and retaliation.
In March 2019, the madrasa student accused principal Siraj Ud Doula of sexually harassing her. After she refused pressure to withdraw the complaint, she was taken to the roof of the institution on 6 April, restrained, doused with kerosene and set on fire.
She died four days later at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Her killing triggered nationwide protests and exposed the dangers women and girls can face after reporting harassment—especially when perpetrators or their supporters hold institutional power.
The latest judgment does not erase those wider questions.
For women and girls, access to justice begins before a courtroom verdict. It depends on whether complaints are believed, whether institutions protect complainants from retaliation, and whether police, educational authorities and communities respond quickly when threats emerge.
Nusrat reported what happened to her.
What followed demonstrated why reporting sexual harassment can sometimes become dangerous for survivors.
Seven years later, her case remains a reminder that preventing violence against women requires more than severe punishment after tragedy. Bangladesh must build systems where a girl who speaks up does not have to risk her life for doing so.
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