Odisha: Woman student sets self on fire over sexual harassment in college

BALASORE: A woman student of a college in Odisha's Balasore district, who had lodged a sexual harassment complaint against a teacher, on Saturday allegedly set herself on fire in the educational institute campus and sustained 90 per cent burn injury, police said. Another male student, who attempted to save her, also sustained injury and both were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital here.

Later, she was referred to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment, police said. The incident took place this afternoon after the victim woman student met the Principal of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Balasore, Dilip Ghosh.

She had earlier lodged a sexual harassment complaint against a teacher, who is also the head of the department and demanded action against him. Officials said that the woman was a second-year student of the Integrated B.Ed programme in the college. She had also staged a protest in the college campus for one week demanding action against the teacher.

Police detained accused teacher

Principal Dilip Ghosh said: "The student had come to me and wanted action against the teacher. I counselled her as she looked tense. She had lodged a complaint on June 30 and an internal complaint committee (ICC) inquiry was going on." The police have meanwhile detained the accused teacher at Sahadevkhunta Police Station in Balasore town, an official said, adding that SP Raj Prasad and a scientific team were investigating into the matter on the spot.

Meanwhile, Balasore MLA Manas Dutta, who visited the hospital, said: "The health condition of the woman student is critical. Our first priority is to save her life." According to her friends, the woman student was under severe mental stress for the past several days over the alleged harassment by the Head of the department. Her friends said that her agony was compounded as neither the college authority nor the police took any action against the accused teacher. The incident has sparked tension in the college campus.