Odisha: Harassment or Murder? Outrage as Girl Student Dies After Public Self-Immolation

The attempt at self-immolation and the subsequent death of a girl student in the prestigious F M College in Balasore town in Odisha, is not just tragic but a huge cause of shame for many concerned citizens, including the government of the day.  

One of the many such incidents of harassment taking place in the country, this case stands apart because the victim resorted to such an extreme step, after giving up. She had complained to many people in the State apparatus but not a hair wilted, including of the college authorities, to address her grievances that led to the immense tragedy.              
This was not a day's harassment, it reportedly lasted for weeks that led to the ‘suspicious’ self-immolation bid by her. Some even allege a calculated murder of the girl to hush up any “conspiracy” to obliterate the footprints of the alleged culprits or killers inside the campus. There is, therefore, widespread demand for a probe.

“Let’s imagine a scene when a girl is attempting self-immolation after dousing petrol on her in public glare, and that too in front of a college not far away from the Principal’s office. Can there be anything more shocking, as no one from came forward to hold her back from 95% burns?” Kameswar Rao, a senior journalist, said.

The girl had reportedly come out of the college Principal’s office after repeated complaints against her alleged tormentor, a Head of Department (HoD) who had been harassing her for long, asking for certain “favours”, had heeded no action. Not once, but she is said to have faced threats of “bad consequences” several times.

Political Scavengers

In a way, she was consigned to the flames by the system. One student tried to save her but failed, with herself suffering from some burns on her face and hands.

The deceased student, during the phase of her harassment, had informed everybody concerned, urging them to raise a voice against the HoD. She had reportedly knocked at the doors of the Chief Minister, state education minister, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the chiefs of all political parties, but nobody paid any heed to her pleas. 

Meanwhile, she posted a video in social media narrating the alleged mental torture she was being subjected to by this teacher and even had hinted that the pain of mental torture was so unbearable that she had decided not to live.

As per reports, there was nothing secret about the ongoing mental inflictions on her for long. Perhaps, a word from the political dispensation of the day would have made all the difference, putting a halt to the designs of the perpetrator.

No Opposition leader also came forward to stand by her.

After her demise, there were a series of tweets from everybody mentioned above condoling her death in a hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Only the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, visited the girl in hospital on Monday at the penultimate hour when she, perhaps, was giving up her battle against death.

The deceased student, besides being a student, was an accomplished self-defence trainer of repute and was taking classes in the campus.   

Read Also: Odisha: KIIT Unrest Under Control but Some Things Need Relook, Says Achuyta Samanta

Toothless media

It is too recent to forget last February when an incident of suicide by a student in the (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), campus took place. Some local TV channels pitched their tents in front of the campus, disseminating views and news demonising the KIIT founder day in and day out. A leading Odia TV channel, owned by a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavyweight, played the key role in all this along with a few activists, for weeks together.

Why Selective Plucking?

But, when the issue of the student from Balasore went public and her video went viral, none of the media harbingers played any role, let alone pressuring the state government to act to save a life.  

“That was not selective plucking but an intended step at shielding the ‘double engine’ government in Odisha from being a party in the sin”, alleged Rabi Das, a political analyst.

There are questions that are being raised: Where did the girl manage to get the petrol can after meeting the college Principal? Why did no one from the college try to dissuade her from dousing her body with petrol? It could not be an exercise of seconds. This has, apparently, triggered a notion that the onlookers were a part of the mute brigade or a part of the willing lot watching her die.

“Was it a murder? Such whispers are doing the rounds. The incident deserves an impartial probe by a central agency” said a senior retired police officer requesting anonymity.    

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha with over 40 years' experience in the profession.