Kendrapada: A day the alleged self-immolation death of a 20-year-old girl, Kendrapada SP Siddharth Kataria on Thursday transferred assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sailendra Mohan Palai of Pattamundai Rural police station to the district police headquarters.
“He should be relieved immediately,” the SP’s letter to the IIC said.
This followed the victim’s family allegation of police inaction on their complaint of alleged blackmail and threats by her former boyfriend, which they alleged drove her to take the extreme step. Six months ago, she along with her father had gone to the police station to lodge an FIR but police did not take any step to register a case and advised them to block the youth’s mobile number.
The victim’s father further claimed that the man had been threatening to leak her photographs and had also given her death threats.
Self-Immolation By College Student
The incident took place on Wednesday when the girl, a Plus Three final-year student of political science, was alone at home. Police said the body was found on the staircase of the house, indicating that the victim probably made a desperate bid to go to the terrace after setting herself on fire but could not open the door.
According to her parents, they had gone to the community health centre at Pattamundai at 7.30 am and found their daughter in a charred state when they returned home at around 11.30 am.
She had appeared the semester examination on Tuesday.
While a case has been registered under sections 108 (abatement to suicide) and 351(2) (criminal intimation) under BNS, police have launched an investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident.
Two platoons of police have been deployed in the village to prevent any untoward incident.
Three Deaths By In Fire Within A Month
This is the third such death of a woman from burn injuries in Odisha in the past 25 days.
On July 12, a 20-year-old female student of FM College in Balasore set herself on fire on the campus over alleged sexual harassment by a professor and institutional neglect. She died two days later while undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.
A 15-year-old girl from Balanga area in Puri district died on August 2 at AIIMS, New Delhi, after almost 14-day battle for life after being allegedly set on fire by three men near a riverbank. Hours after her death, police, however, claimed that no one was involved in the incident, a version her family later backed.
