Sexual harassment complaint ignored: Odisha student sets herself on fire

Balasore: A woman student at Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Odisha’s Balasore district allegedly set herself on fire on the college campus on Saturday after repeated inaction on her sexual harassment complaint against a teacher. The student, a second-year enrollee in the Integrated B.Ed programme, sustained 90 per cent burn injuries and was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital before being referred to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment.

A male student who attempted to save her also suffered injuries. Both remain under medical care.

According to police, the student had earlier filed a formal complaint on June 30, accusing the Head of the Department of sexually harassing her. Despite staging a week-long protest demanding action, she had seen no resolution. On the day of the incident, she met the college principal, Dilip Ghosh, to once again press for action.

“She was visibly distressed when she came to me. I counselled her. An internal complaint committee (ICC) inquiry had already been initiated,” the principal told the press.

The accused teacher has since been detained at the Sahadevkhunta Police Station. A forensic team and Superintendent of Police Raj Prasad are investigating the incident at the scene.

Balasore MLA Manas Dutta, who visited the hospital, confirmed the woman’s condition as critical and said, “Our first priority is to save her life.”

Friends of the student said she had been under extreme psychological pressure due to the harassment and the lack of response from both the college administration and the police. The incident has sparked tension across the college campus, drawing widespread concern and outrage.

With PTI inputs