Bhubaneswar: The three-member committee, constituted by the Odisha government, on Sunday began investigation into the circumstances which allegedly pushed the undergraduate girl student to attempt self-immolation at FM (Autonomous) College in Balasore.
The probe panel, comprising Higher Education Director Kali Prasanna Mohapatra, Higher Education Department Joint Secretary Mousumi Nayak and Profr Jhumki Rath of BJP (Autonomous) College, questioned Principal Dillip Ghosh and the members of internal complaints committee (ICC) in connection with the matter.
Two-member team of Crime Branch’s women wing, comprising Additional SP and DSP, also spoke to the principal of the college as a part of a suo motu investigation. It may hold discussions with ICC and family members of the victim later, sources said.
The 20-year-old student Soumyashree Bisi, whose complaint of sexual harassment against an assistant professor went unaddressed, is currently battling for life at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.
Meanwhile, her father alleged that she was pressured by the college authorities to withdraw the complaint which she had filed with the ICC on July 1. “A few minutes before she set herself ablaze, some of her friends informed me the college principal asked her to meet him. He told her that the internal complaints committee found no concrete evidence to support her allegations of sexual harassment. She was then asked to withdraw the complaint,” the inconsolable father told the media.
He further claimed that the college authorities also threatened to rusticate her.
The girl’s father alleged that HoD, Sameer Sahu, had threatened to sabotage her academic record if she did not comply with his demand for favours. “When she lodged a complaint with the ICC against him, he brought together a few students and started claiming that all her allegations were baseless. She was under immense mental stress. The principal also did not provide any consolation to my daughter,” he added.
Soumyashree met the principal on June 30, seeking action against Sahu, and again on the fateful day with her brother Soumya Ranjan. She also staged a demonstration outside the main entrance of the college when she failed to get any satisfactory response. In her complaint to the ICC, she had alleged that the HoD had been mentally and sexually harassing her for the last few months as well as demanding favours by threatening to fail her in the examinations. She even claimed that she had earlier attempted suicide due to the harassment.
She set herself ablaze outside the principal’s chamber at 12.30 pm on Saturday after her pleas for help, including a post on X, tagging the CM, Higher Education Minister, Balasore MP, SP and Collector, went unheeded.
The government reacted only after she took the extreme step, suspending the principal and the accused assistant professor, heading the education department, who was later arrested.
Meanwhile, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, in its evening medical update, stated that they have begun dialysis for Soumyashree and the family has been informed about probable course and outcome of her condition. “The suggestion from AIIMS, New Delhi, has been taken virtually and accordingly treatment is being done which include strict sugar and hemodynamics monitoring,” it added.
