Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) workers staged a demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday protesting the suicide of a female student of Balasore’s Fakir Mohan Autonomous College following alleged harassment.
The demonstration escalated into a standoff near Lower PMG Square as BJD workers clashed with police personnel deployed at the site while trying to march towards the Odisha Assembly and Lok Seva Bhawan in a bid to gherao the secretariat building.
As the protesters clashed with the security forces and broke the barricade in a bid to proceed, police personnel reportedly used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the agitators. The police action came after the demonstrators breached the first set of barricades and attempted to force their way past a second cordon.
Sources said around 100 BJD workers were detained at the scene as a preventive measure as they tried to push through heavy police deployment in the high-security zone.
In a bid to take the situation under control and disperse the agitators, police used tear gas and water cannon. Later, police detained several BJD leaders and workers.
Some BJD leaders, including former Ministers Pritiranjan Gharai and Pranab Prakash Das, reportedly sustained injuries in the incident. They were rushed to the Capital Hospital for medical attention. Gharai was later shifted to the ICU of a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.
BJD leaders alleged that FM College student Soumyashree Bisi was forced to set herself ablaze on July 12 as her complaint against sexual harassment by a faculty member. She sustained over 90 per cent burn and later breathed her last while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
Holding the state government responsible for the tragic incident, they said the protest by the opposition party will intensify in the coming days.
“Our fight will continue. The government must order a judicial probe into the death of the college student,” said senior BJD leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma before being detained by the police from the protest site.
Besiudes demanding a judicial probe into the incident by a sitting High Court judge, BJD has also sought the resignation of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj, holding them morally accountable for the tragic incident.
As the suicide of Soumyashree sparked widespread outrage, Congress has given a call for Odisha bandh on Thursday seeking justice to the bereaved family.
