Dhaka: Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Kazi Reazul Hoque on Tuesday said the murder of the Feni madrasa girl could have been averted had the local administration and the madrasa managing committee taken necessary measures in time.

‘The Commission also thinks police officials concerned showed negligence and committed a crime. There’s also negligence on the part of the district administration. They manifested their arrogance. The Commission has suggested taking necessary actions against them,’ he said, reports the UNB.

The NHRC chief was addressing a press briefing at its Karwanbazar office after presenting the report of their investigation into the murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi.

He also urged the government to mete out punishment to those involved in the murder of the madrasa girl.

The panel formed by the NHRC comprising Al-Mahmud Faijul Kabir, director (Complaint and Investigation), and M Rabiul Islam, deputy director (complaint and investigation), investigated the incident where Nusrat was set afire and she subsequently died of burn injuries.

The probe body visited the Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Sonagazi upazila of Feni district, the place of occurrence, on April 11.

They talked to Nusrat’s family members, upazila nirbahi officer, officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station, acting principal of the madrasa, other teachers, students and locals.

According to the probe report, madrasa principal Sirajuddoula sexually harassed Nusrat at his office room and his associates set her ablaze after pouring kerosene on her at his order, said Reazul Hoque.

It also found that the policemen made offensive questions to Nusrat and tried to take the matter lightly, he said.

The officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station acted irresponsibly and his act is contradictory to the Digital Security Act, the NHRC chairman said.

The probe report also revealed that Sirajuddoula sexually assaulted male students when he was the super of another madrasa in Doulatpur in 1995. He was also accused in many cases filed on fraudulence charges and the trial proceedings of the cases are underway. 

He also served in prison. 

In 2001, Sirajuddoula was made principal of the Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa and he used to call female students individually to his office room.

A number of complaints were lodged against him but the governing body of the madrasa and the local administration did not pay any heed to those, said the NHRC chairman.

He said the probe panel has put forward seven recommendations that include bringing the culprits to justice, taking legal action against the responsible policemen, taking necessary action against the cohorts of Sirajuddoula, reconstituting the governing body of the madrasa and ensuring security to Nusrat’s family.

Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Sonagazi upazila of Feni, was set ablaze on April 6 allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against principal Sirajuddoula of the madrasa for sexually harassing her last month.

After fighting for her life for five days, the madrasa girl died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10.