Odisha Student Dies After Self‑Immolation Over Inaction on Sexual Harassment Allegation

Odisha Student Dies After Self‑Immolation: Eleven days before she set herself on fire, the 22-year-old student in Odisha’s Balasore wrote to the college’s internal complaints committee, accusing a senior faculty member of sexually harassing her and warning that she would die by suicide if no action is taken.

"The patient was brought to the casualty ward on July 12 at 5:15 PM by her friend. She was resuscitated with IV fluids and antibiotics, intubated, and placed on mechanical ventilation. Despite adequate resuscitation and all possible supportive management, including renal replacement therapy in the Burns ICU, she could not be revived and was declared clinically dead at 11:46 PM on July 14," stated a medical bulletin issued by AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Tuesday morning.

The victim, a second-year B.Ed (Integrated) student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore, set herself on fire on Saturday just outside the college principal’s chamber. This was after the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the institution gave a clean chit to the head of the Education Department, Samir Kumar Sahu, in the sexual harassment case she had filed two weeks earlier.

In her July 1 letter to the college’s internal complaints committee, the victim had demanded that a disciplinary committee be set up to investigate the allegations against Sahu and take necessary action.

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"For the last few months, the HoD of BEd department, Assistant Professor Samir Kumar Sahu, has been harassing me mentally. He is always threatening me that he will ensure I fail. He has also threatened to share my personal matters with my family. Most importantly, the HoD is repeatedly asking for sexual favours. I have denied this continuously. I have lost my mental peace and attempted suicide. In the future, if the college authority does not take any action, I will commit suicide and the HoD and the college authority will be responsible," she wrote in the letter.

An ABVP member, she had informed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the National Commission for Women (NCW) and local police officials about her situation.

According to her batchmates, the woman was mentally distressed for weeks allegedly due to persistent harassment by the Head of the Integrated B. Ed. Department, Sameer Kumar Sahoo. Batchmates claimed Sahoo made repeated inappropriate demands and threatened her with academic consequences if she refused to comply.

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The woman set herself on fire just after she met the college principal on Saturday. Her father blamed the principal for his daughter’s plight while her mother demanded death penalty for the culprits.

The victim’s father said his daughter faced harassment from Sahoo for six months. She had informed various authorities about her plight but felt unsupported by college officials. Her father said she wanted to file a police complaint due to lack of trust in the college’s inquiry process.

On June 30, Sahoo allegedly stopped her from an exam due to low attendance. Despite writing to the principal about her ordeal, no immediate action was taken. The victim even messaged several officials including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on social media but got no response.

The body was brought to her village Palasia in Balasore district today morning. As the ambulance entered the village, tears rolled down the faces of the villagers. BJD and Congress, who have been protesting against the state BJP government, have demanded justice for the girl and said she was forced to die because the system failed her.

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