Odisha Self-Immolation Case: Two Students Arrested For Abetment, Had Provoked Victim ‘Emotionally And Mentally’

Odisha Self-Immolation Case: The Crime Branch of the Odisha Police arrested two students on charges of alleged abetment to suicide of a female student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore in July this year. The arrests were made as part of the ongoing investigation into the circumstances that led to the student’s death.

A 20-year-old B.Ed student set herself on fire over inaction by the university administration in a sexual harassment complaint. She died at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar on July 14.

The two students have been identified as Shubhra Sambit Nayak and Jyotiprakash Biswal, said officials, as quoted by News18. As per Crime Branch officials, the arrests were made after preliminary investigation exposed the students’ alleged role in provoking the girl, both mentally and emotionally.

The accused recorded videos of the incident on their phones instead of helping the girl, authorities allege as per the report.

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The girl had filed a complaint with the college administration on July 1, and for the next 10 days, there was no action on her complaint. The victim resorted to an extreme step to self-immolate. She set herself ablaze on July 11.

Eight opposition parties, led by the Congress, called an Odisha bandh on July 17 to protest the death of the girl.

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Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced an ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh for the family of the college student.

The Odisha Higher Education department suspended FM College Principal Dilip Ghose and HoD Samira Kumar Sahu. Sahu, the prime accused in the sexual harassment case was also arrested, the day of the self-immolation.