July 16, 2025
BHUBANESWAR – Amid an outpouring of grief and emotion, the mortal remains of the 20-year-old undergraduate female student, who succumbed to burn injuries after self-immolation, were consigned to flames on Tuesday in her native village, Palasia, under Bhograi block in Odisha’s Balasore district.
A pall of gloom descended in the sleepy village even as residents, the deceased’s loved ones, besides people from various spectrums of life, had an identical view on the sequence of the sordid episode which resulted in the tragic death of the student.
”It’s a deeply disconcerting scenario that has laid bare the abject failure of the system. The victim’s cry for justice failed to stir those at the helm. Everybody from top to bottom is accountable for the tragic demise of the victim. Nobody was the least bothered to redress the young woman’s grievance when the assistant professor inflicted sexual harassment. Now everybody is shedding crocodile tears. Accountability ought to be fixed on those who are at the helm,” stated the grieving people from the victim’s native village.
Deeply traumatised over the assistant professor seeking sexual favour and threatening to sabotage her academic career, the undergraduate girl student at the Fakir Mohan College in Balasore had set herself on fire by pouring petrol on 12 July, right in front of the principal’s chamber. The victim had brought the matter to the notice of the college authorities and the local police. She had tagged her ‘X’ post to CM, the union education minister, the State’s higher education minister, local MP and MLA, besides the director general of police, but to no avail.
While Chief Minister Mohan Majhi and his Cabinet colleagues expressed heartfelt condolences over the female student’s death, asserting that none of those involved in the incident will be spared, BJD President and leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, attributed the unfortunate death to a ‘failed system’.
It is even more disturbing to see how a failed system can snuff out a person’s life. What is most painful is that this is not an accident, but the result of a system that remained silent instead of helping. The girl finally closed her eyes after struggling to get justice, Patnaik posted on the ‘X’ handle.
Highlighting the sequence of events, Patnaik said, “She very bravely wrote a letter to the college principal informing him about the sexual harassment inflicted on her. After being ignored by the college authorities, she did not stop. She informed the Higher Education Minister, the Chief Minister’s Office, and a Union Minister to seek justice. She even met the Balasore MP personally and expressed her grief”.
If someone had taken responsibility and personally intervened, the girl’s life could have been saved. She did not just die from physical injuries, but because of the indifference of the state government, which left her alone in the struggle. The entire sequence of events shows that this is nothing less than institutional betrayal and a planned injustice, Patnaik concluded.