Bhubaneswar/Balasore
The 20-year-old Odisha college student who set herself ablaze over an alleged sexual harassment by a professor died, triggering nationwide outrage.
The father of the deceased held members of her college’s Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) “solely responsible” for his daughter’s death, accusing them of preparing a “biased report” in connection with her allegation, which led her to set herself on fire on the campus on July 12.
While Chief Minister Mohan Charan Mahji expressed grief over the student’s death and announced that all culprits will face the strictest punishment, non-BJP leaders such as Rahul Gandhi of the Congress and BJD president Naveen Patnaik termed the incident an “organised murder by the system”.
The opposition parties called for a bandh in the state on July 17 to protest the incident.
The second-year Integrated B.Ed student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore set herself ablaze shortly after coming out of the principal’s chamber, alleging inaction over her complaint against the professor.
The student, who suffered 95% burns, was first admitted to the Balasore District Headquarters Hospital and then shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment. She was declared dead hours after President Droupadi Murmu visited her at the burn unit ICU.
“The patient was on mechanical ventilation. Despite adequate resuscitation and all possible supportive management, including renal replacement therapy at the Burns ICU, she could not be revived and was declared clinically dead at 11:46 pm on July 14,” the AIIMS Bhubaneswar’s Department of Burn
Centre said in a statement on Tuesday.
Condoling the death, the CM announced an ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh for the family of the deceased student.
“I assure the family that all those guilty in this case will face the strictest punishment as per the law. For this, I have issued instructions to the authorities. The government stands firmly by the family,” Majhi said in a statement.
Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida visited the hospital on Monday night to console the family members of the victim.
The administration conducted the postmortem examination of the body on Monday night and sent it to her native place in Basta area of Balasore district amid the protests by the opposition party activists.
The funeral of the woman was conducted before noon on Tuesday in presence of thousands of people, including the Balasore MP.
Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has set up a four-member fact-finding panel to look into the incident of self-immolation on college campus, officials said on Tuesday.
