Madrassah girl set on fire at exam centre in Feni

A madrassah girl was set on fire after being doused with kerosene on the roof of an examination centre at her two-storey madrassah building at Sonagazi upazila in Feni Saturday morning, nine days after her mother lodged a case accusing the madrassah principal of harassing the girl sexually on March 27.
The victim, 18, an Alim examinee from Sonagazi Islamia Sinior Fazil Madrassah, alleged that she was set on fire after she protested against the misdeed of her abuser madrassah principal Siraj-ud-Doula.
Following the incident, she was immediately rushed to Sonagazi Upazila Health Complex and then to Feni Sadar Hospital, from where she was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital burn unit in the afternoon.
Sonagazi Islamia Sinior Fazil Madrassah is also the centre for Alim examination, equivalent to Higher Secondary Certificate examination.
Talking to New Age, the victim said that she could not identify any of the attackers, nor could she determine their sexes as they were covered in burkas and their faces were masked and hands were gloved.
She also added that she was scheduled to sit for her Arabic first paper examination on Saturday. 
According to the victim, she was at her examination hall when someone called her and told her that one of her friends, Nishad, was being mercilessly beaten on the Madrasah building roof. 
As she rushed to the spot, instead of a scene of beating she encountered a number of people in burkas with their faces veiled and hands gloved. 
‘They caught hold of me there,’ she said, adding that, ‘They pressed my hand against something hard and I cried out in pain and they kept at it while asking me whether my family would withdraw the case against the principal?’
She said, ‘I said that we would not withdraw the case until I was alive. I will continue to protest against the injustice done to me.’
She alleged that the attackers then doused her with kerosene and set her on fire.
‘They set me on fire for protesting against the injustice. Let the whole world know that I faced the tragedy for protesting against the injustice done to me,’ she said.
‘She is not out of danger,’ burn unit honorary coordinator Samanta Lal Sen said, adding that the girl received 75 per cent burns. 
Madrassah principal Siraj-ud-Doula is now in jail in the case lodged by the victim’s mother on March 28, which alleged that the principal harassed the victim sexually calling her at his chamber at the madrassah. 
He was arrested on March 28, immediately after the case was lodged, police said.
Following the arrest, the local people and madrassah students split into two groups. While one group demonstrated demanding the principal’s exemplary punishment for sexual harassment of female students, the other group formed a human chain demanding his immediate release.
The principal’s supporters had been pressuring the family to withdraw the case or face dire consequences, the victim’s family alleged. 
The victim was brought to the burn unit at about 3:00pm by an ambulance while she was crying in pain, said the victim’s elder brother.
He also said that he escorted his sister and dropped her at the examination centre’s gate while the authorities did not allow him to enter the centre premises.
While none of the Madrassah officials agreed to give any comment, the teenage victim at DMCH, though was groaning in pain, vented her anger, ‘I want to tell this to the education minister. I want to tell this to the state minister for education.’
Sonagazi police officer-in-charge Moazzem Hossain said that they detained the madrassah’s English lecturer Absar Uddin and Ariful Islam, one of the victim’s friends, for interrogation.
He said that they were expecting a case in this connection.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net