A Bangladesh appeals court on Monday upheld the death sentences of a former religious school head teacher and a co-conspirator convicted in the murder of teenage student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was burned alive after accusing the teacher of sexual harassment.
The court also acquitted 10 other defendants, while reducing the death sentences of four others to life imprisonment.
Nusrat was attacked after filing a sexual harassment complaint against the head of her rural religious school. She was doused with kerosene and set on fire, suffering burns across 80 per cent of her body. She died in hospital four days later.
Former head teacher SM Siraj-Ud-Dowlah was among the two men whose death sentences were upheld.
The case shocked Bangladesh and sparked widespread public anger. Demonstrators held several days of protests in Dhaka, demanding “exemplary punishment” for those responsible for Nusrat’s death.
