Bhubaneswar: Amid allegations that the 20-year-old student of FM College was provoked to undergo an ‘Agni Pariksha’, the Odisha Crime Branch’s Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW) collected CCTV footage from a filling station near the institute in Balasore on Thursday night.
According to a staffer of the filling station, the probe agency arrived at around 9-9.30 pm and took CCTV footage of three days (July 11-13) in a pen drive.
Sources said that it will help the team to ascertain how the victim procured petrol, which she used while attempting self immolation on July 12 afternoon due to alleged sexual harassment by HoD of the Education Department, Samira Kumar Sahu, and institutional neglect.
She was in her second year of the integrated BEd course.
“A case involving crimes against women and children has been taken up by the Crime Branch for investigation. We will handle the case with utmost fairness and professionalism. At this stage, we prefer not to disclose further details of the investigation,” Inspector General (IG) of the Crime Branch, S. Shyni S, told the media.
The team is currently at Palashia, the native place of the deceased student, for an interaction with the family members over the incident.
On Thursday, a two-member team of the Crime Branch also visited the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and interrogated Jyotiprakash Biswal, a key eyewitness currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. He was reportedly questioned about the sequence of events that led to the tragic incident, including how the victim’s body caught fire.
Jyotiprakash suffered 15 per cent burn injuries while attempting to rescue her.
Attempt to silence the victim?
The team is also expected to gather the FIR copy initially filed with Sahadevkhunta police, along with statements from seven to eight of the victim’s friends. It will also investigate whether Sahu harassed students during his previous postings at Koraput and Keonjhar colleges and how he rallied numerous students to complain against the victim to the principal right after she approached the college’s ICC seeking action against him.
According to a friend’s account, the HoD allegedly mobilised the support of nearly 300 students to defend himself, while only 15-20 students stood by the victim.
The agency will also probe why the college principal failed to report the matter to the Higher Education department or take preventive steps, such as reassigning Sahu to another department or placing him on leave during the ICC’s investigation. The role of local police will also be under scanner who allegedly did not act despite having information about the harassment case.
Additionally, CAW&CW will explore whether anyone incited the victim to self-immolate.
A friend of the victim told the media that they got a call during the lunch break on the fateful day informing them that she was being provoked to undergo an ‘Agni Pariksha’. “I use this term because I believe the principal must have said something that deeply hurt her, pushing her to take such a drastic step. She was completely broken, drained, and exhausted from fighting for justice,” the friend told NDTV.
The friend further alleged that the victim, who was a member of ABVP, was used as a political tool before the upcoming elections. “The HoD persuaded nearly 100 students to turn against her. They assassinated her character, writing an application to the principal that questioned her integrity and raised accusations against her. Ironically, the same opposition now speaks of justice,” the friend added.
A letter written by a group of 75 students to the principal rubbished the victim’s allegations of harassment and sought her suspension as well as that of her supporters, the India Today reported.
Offensive social media posts!
The BJP had also alleged that offensive social media posts by the student wings of BJD and Congress caused severe psychological distress to a 20-year-old student, leading her to self-immolate. However, Congress’ NSUI refuted the claims, accusing the BJP of deflecting blame from their government’s failure to address the student’s prior sexual harassment complaint against her department head. BJD’s student wing, BCJD, also denied involvement, alleging the BJP was fabricating accusations to cover their own shortcomings.
After allegedly being harassed by Sahu for over 6 months, the victim took up the matter with principal Dilip Ghose on June 30 when she was barred from appearing for the 4th semester internal examination. She lodged a complaint with the ICC on July 1. While the principal sought some time to address the matter, the situation escalated on July 12 and she again approached the principal to push for a resolution.
According to the victim’s father, the principal had threatened her with expulsion from college for failing to substantiate her sexual harassment charges with strong evidence. She was allegedly humiliated in front of her harasser, promoting her to take the extreme step, sources added.