Odisha student dies after self-immolation over inaction after sexual harassment allegation

Hindustan Times

a day ago

The 20-year-old woman student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore, who had attempted self-immolation, succumbed to her injuries late Monday night at AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The student set herself on fire on Saturday, protesting official inaction on her allegations of sexual harassment by a professor in her college. The student set herself on fire on Saturday protesting official inaction on her allegations of sexual harassment by a professor in her college. (PTI)
"The patient was brought to the casualty on July 12 at 5:15 PM by her friend and was resuscitated with IV fluids, IV antibiotics, intubated and put on mechanical ventilation. Despite adequate resuscitation and all possible supportive management, including renal replacement therapy at Burns ICU, she could not be revived and was declared clinically dead at 11:46 PM on July 14," said a medical bulletin issued by AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Tuesday morning.
Expressing his grief, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi vowed stringent action against the culprits. 'I assure the family that all those guilty will face the strictest punishment as per the law,' he said in X.
On Monday evening, President Droupadi Murmu had visited the victim in the burns ward in AIIMS Bhubaneswar and met the parents of the girl assuring all help in her treatment. Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati, who was also present during the President's visit, asked the state government to act with urgency, empathy and a sense of responsibility to prevent such incidents. "The safety, mental well-being, and dignity of students must be protected at all times," he wrote on X.
What is the case?
The victim, a second-year student of B.Ed (integrated) at the Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore, set herself afire on Saturday just outside the chamber of the college principal. The action came after an Internal Complaints Committee of the institution gave a clean chit to the head of the education department, Samir Kumar Sahu, in the sexual harassment charges brought in by her a fortnight ago.
In her complaint, the girl accused Sahu of making sexual advances against her and then threatening to fail her in examinations if she did not give in to her demands. The girl, an active member of RSS-controlled Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, had apprised CM Majhi, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, national commission for women as well as district police officials about her plight.
The victim's father, a clerk in a local college, said his daughter wanted him to lodge an FIR with local police last week as she did not trust the inquiry process of the college authorities into her sexual harassment allegations.
On Monday, police arrested Dilip Ghosh, the principal of Fakir Mohan autonomous college in Balasore, who was suspended amid reports that he shielded Sahu from the sexual harassment charges, and even went to the extent of threatening the 20-year-old victim with rustication.
Sahu has already been arrested by the police soon after the girl immolated herself.
The National Commission for Women also took suo motu cognizance of the case on July 13, demanding an action report within three days.
The incident has led to massive protests across the state. On Monday, the BJD's student and wings staged protests outside Fakir Mohan College while Congress leaders in Balasore gheraoed the office of the district collector.
On Sunday, the opposition parties attempted to gherao Chief Minister Mohan Majhi's residence, demanding his resignation along with higher education minister Suraj Suryabanshi, and union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
On Monday, the Odisha government today directed all the universities and colleges to form Internal Committees under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 within 24 hours and display the name and contact number of all IC members in a conspicuous place for the general awareness.
Meanwhile, as the Balasore police and a team from state CID continued their probe into the incident, friends of the victim, her father as well as officials of the Fakir Mohan college said the girl's ordeal of sexual and mental harassment at the hands of Sahu, started around six months ago when he made sexual advances against the 20-year-old.
"Though she kept silent for a few days, she later confided it to her friends. However, the professor continued with the harassment. When she refused to entertain his demand, what followed was harassment on a daily basis. He humiliated my daughter in class every day, even if she was late by a few minutes, and made her stand outside the class. She told us that he had deliberately failed her in internal exams and she had filled up a form to appear for the back paper exam on Wednesday last. The boys in her class would pass lewd comments at her on the campus at the behest of Sahoo. They taunted her over her ambition to stand in the students' union election. But her complaint was not taken seriously,' her father alleged.
The girl's father said his daughter was being harassed by Sahu over the last six months, citing her low attendance.
'She was not keeping well and also had to come back home due to deaths in the family. She also took part in self-defence training sessions in the college as she was a master trainer. When my daughter approached him for improving her attendance, the professor asked her for sexual favours,' he said, adding that his daughter twice attempted to end her life over the serial harassment by the professor.
The victim wanted to meet higher education minister Suraj Suryabanshi through the local MLA, but the meeting could not be arranged.
On June 25, she opened an X account and tweeted about her ordeal to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, union education minister, Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj, Balasore district administration, MP Pratap Sarangi, local MLA Manas Kumar Dutta, Balasore SP Raj Prasad and the NCW.
However, the tweet went unnoticed. On June 30, the professor allegedly stopped the victim from appearing for an internal examination on the pretext of low attendance. The same day she and her friends in ABVP wrote a letter to the college principal detailing the harassment and requested for formation of a inquiry committee.
"When the principal did not take any action, the next day ABVP members locked the college gate demanding action following which police had to be called in. A meeting was held in the chamber of the principal Ghosh where he announced formation of an internal complaints committee as per POSH guidelines. The college did not have a complaint committee till then. The victim was then asked to write another complaint addressed to the committee which she did. But unsure of the action by the principal, she met Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi the same day who called up the principal seeking a quick probe," said a friend of the victim.
Seven days after the meeting, the girl met the principal wanting to know the progress of the probe and action against Sahu, but she did not get any answer.
Balasore SP Raj Prasad said though the principal on July 1 had assured the police that the probe will be finished within five days report would be given to the police, it was not complied. The principal also did not inform the Higher Education department about the complaint.
The ICC finally submitted its report on July 10 which cleared Sahu of the allegations.
'The ICC which inquired into the incident did not understood the nitty gritty of the investigation process and the report seemed ambiguous. The ICC randomly selected students and seemed to be making a perfunctory attempt. The principal should not have allowed the professor to work in the campus even while the ICC inquiry was on. The victim was also not given any counselling which likely led her to the conclusion that the probe was a sham,' said a higher education official who probed into the incident.
Although there were three student members in the ICC, they were not present during the inquiry because of their ongoing exams.
On July 10, the girl spoke to her father, expressing despair over the college's inaction. 'They will not let me exist peacefully,' she told him.
On Saturday, the girl went to the principal Dilip Ghosh's chamber seeking action against Sahu where the principal told her that the ICC inquiry found nothing against the professor and pressurised her to withdraw her complaint with the internal complaints committee.
'My daughter's friends said the principal told her that the ICC had found all evidence against her and asked her to withdraw the complaint, else, she would be rusticated from the college. She must have felt all options closing for her that moment,' said the girl's father.