'It Was Her Agni Pariksha': Friend Reveals How Trolling Crushed Balasore Victim's Spirit
The woman said the principal was approached several times to act against the HoD but he, instead, warned the victim of consequences if she failed to prove her complaint
The 20-year-old BEd student of Balasore's Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, who set herself on fire over the alleged harassment by her HoD and assistant professor Samir Kumar Sahu, approached her principal several times to share her ordeal but did not get a favourable response.
The apathy was revealed by the victim's close friend, who, in an interview with CNN-News18, said: 'The principal asked for some time and took 7–8 days but did nothing. In fact, he warned the victim of consequences if she failed to prove her complaint," she said.
The victim's friend said she was trolled by juniors, who called her a 'bad girl" on social media and campus and assassinated her character. 'On June 30, us friends accompanied her for support. She had gone to the principal earlier too, but wasn't heard. On June 30, we all went with her to demand action. The principal asked for 7-8 days but did nothing. The HoD instigated students to defame her."
The woman said the victim was 'used as a political tool by opposition student union NSUI" and those showing sympathy now were the same who tarnished her image.
Sharing details of the fateful day when the woman self-immolated, her friend said: 'She looked okay and calm in the morning. The fact that she couldn't provide proof pushed her to take the extreme step; it was her Agni Pariksha. However, when we returned from lunch, we saw what she had done. The shaming crushed her spirit. She felt isolated, unheard, and humiliated and took the drastic step."
The woman said the fight for justice would not end with the victim's death. 'She did not burn alone—all of us are burning with her today. She taught us that we must always fight for the rights of girls."
THE CASE
Shocking details of the case have come to the fore after the victim's death, including the apathy of the college administration as well as pressure from some of her own peers who supported the accused.
The student, in her complaint to the college's Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) on July 1, had mentioned that the professor had asked for a 'favour" from her, refusal of which invited mental harassment. 'When she (the student) asked him what kind of favour, Sahoo allegedly said, 'You are not a child to not understand what favour I need'," Minati Sethi, a member of the ICC, told a news portal.
Upset over being unable to prove her allegations, the student set herself ablaze shortly after coming out of the principal's chamber. She suffered 95 per cent burns and was first admitted to the Balasore District Headquarters Hospital. Later, she was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment. The accused professor and the principal of the college were arrested in connection with the case.
The University Grants Commission has set up a four-member fact-finding team to look into the incident.
view comments
First Published:
July 17, 2025, 08:58 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Odisha mandates installation of CCTV on college, varsity campuses to check crimes
BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to check incidents of sexual harassment, ragging and other crimes on campuses, the state government has decided to bring all higher educational institutions under the Higher Education department under the CCTV surveillance system. Under the Shaktishree initiative, which was announced by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi last week in wake of the FM (Autonomous) College incident, the department has decided to mandate installation of CCTVs in all public colleges and universities to keep a closer watch and ensure a safe environment in the campuses. Modalities of the installation are currently being worked out. A senior official of the department informed that principals of the institutions will soon be asked to identify the locations on campuses where installation of CCTVs is required. The principals will consult the internal complaints committee (ICC) members and Shaktishree Empowerment Cells to decide upon locations on the campuses. A central control room will be established in the department for monitoring purposes. 'The idea is to bring both frequented and less frequented areas in a college or university under CCTV surveillance to keep an eye on any untoward incident that is happening on campuses including cases of sexual harassment,' said the official.
Scroll.in
9 hours ago
- Scroll.in
Yet again, Odisha student's death by suicide shows how India is still failing women
Predictable, knee-jerk reactions and promises of harsh punishment followed the death by suicide of a 20-year-old woman from Odisha on July 14 after she was sexually harassed by a college faculty member. The incident underscored how India's reactive and punishment-focused response to violence against women is fundamentally inadequate. The 20-year-old BEd student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore had set herself ablaze outside the principal's office on July 12. Two days later, she succumbed to 95% burn injuries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar The student's testimonials and letters being circulated by the media show that she was harassed for months by the head of department Samir Kumar Sahu, who allegedly demanded sexual favours to clear her attendance backlogs. Sahu was arrested on July 12 and college principal Dilip Ghosh soon after. The student had met Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi to report the harassment. She had also posted about the harassment on her X account tagging the Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, the state's higher education minister and Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, who is a Member of Parliament from Odisha. But her pleas went unheard. The immediate aftermath followed a familiar script, with Majhi promising 'strictest punishment under law'. The state government hastily directed higher education institutions to constitute Internal Complaints Committees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, as if the absence of such mechanisms had been a sudden revelation rather than a longstanding oversight. It shows that even basic legal mandates under the act are unaddressed in Odisha. The opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress held protests in Odisha demanding political accountability. But systemic accountability will not result solely from resorting to criminal law and punishing offenders. The systemic failures that enable such violence must be addressed. However, since the 2012 Delhi gangrape, India has repeatedly turned to punitive legislation to address sexual violence. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, introduced harsher penalties for sexual offences. After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Hospital in August last year, West Bengal enacted the Aparajita Woman and Child Act, 2024. But less than a year later, in July, Kolkata witnessed another violent crime: a law student was gangraped in an alleged act of revenge by a former classmate after she refused to marry one of them. The persistence of such crimes despite severe laws underlines the futility of seeking deterrence through retributive punishment alone. Friends of the Odisha student say her ordeal was not confined to sexual harassment by Sahu but also included verbal abuse and harassment that she endured for months. Sexual slurs and rumours of her being of 'loose' character were circulated on college WhatsApp groups. Demeaning language by her peers led to her being ostracised, possibly creating an environment of isolation and despair. The college Internal Complaints Committee had found Sahu guilty and recommended his transfer but the directive was not implemented. These failings show that it was not just a case of individual misconduct, but a comprehensive institutional failure that pushed a young woman to the brink. This occured despite the fact that the prevention of workplace sexual harassment law, which has mechanisms to check such incidents, includes educational institutions under its purview. Section 19 of the act mandates employers to organise workshops and awareness programmess on sexual harassment and conspicuously display the consequences of sexual harassment as well as the manner of reporting to the internal complaints committee. Merely focusing on punishing Sahu and the principal shifts focus away from the government's shortcomings in implementing the safeguards already in place. However, days after the incident, the Odisha government on July 19 announced the Shaktishree programme for women's safety. Its main features include a mobile app to report complaints, an empowerment cell of female faculty and students, a code of conduct, online training on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and increased camera surveillance. #Odisha takes a bold step with the #Shaktishree Initiative to ensure safer campuses for women. — CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) July 19, 2025 The state government's technocratic approach ignores ground realities such as the fact that women, especially those from marginalised groups, have low access to smartphones and the internet. Similarly, the reliance on student-led cells, training modules and periodic visits by mentors treats sexual harassment as coordination problem rather than one requiring fundamental cultural change. The Balasore student had already reported her harassment through existing channels to the college internal complaints committee. More reporting mechanisms would not have protected her when the system failed to act on her complaints. Majhi, while announcing the Shaktishree programme, did not say whether the government has the capacity to deliver these measures, and in what timeframe. It also is not clear how everyday incidents will be prevented while this new initiative is put into place. Women as citizens Implementing both, the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and the Shaktishree initiative requires political will grounded in the recognition of women's rights as citizens, not daughters, sisters or mothers. This is difficult in Indian society where close-knit family relations and caste and religion markers determine the worth of women, creating a pervasive rape culture. In another incident in Odisha earlier in July, BJP legislator Santosh Khatua used sexual slurs against Lekhashree Samantasinghar, a senior leader of the opposition Biju Janata Dal. After Samantasinghar's complaint, the police filed a case against Khatua. But the ruling BJP did not admonish its legislator or criticise his behaviour. In March, after the Congress alleged that crimes against women in the state had increased, the state government refused to constitute a house committee to consider this phenomenon. This political apathy creates an enabling environment in which violent crimes against women flourish with impunity, provoking public outrage only when they breach the narrow boundaries of respectability. In the case of the Balasore student, this culture of impunity proved fatal, as political leaders turned a blind even as the student pleaded with them to intervene. The path forward demands the strict implementation of the orders of the internal complaints committee, mandatory gender sensitisation programmes, regular institutional audits, robust grievance redressal mechanisms, psychosocial support and a cultural transformation that challenges deep-rooted social prejudices. Unless these are addressed, preventable tragedies such as the death of the young woman in Balasore will continue.
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Time of India
Police question 15 Sharda University faculty members in probe into 21-year-old student's suicide
Noida: Police have recorded statements of 15 faculty members at Sharda University in their investigation into circumstances in which a 21-year-old second-year student died by suicide on July 18. In her note, Jyoti Jhangra accused two faculty members of mental harassment. Both have since been arrested and are in judicial custody. The faculty members who police have taken statements from include the head of the department of the School of Dental Sciences and the dean, both of whom are named in the FIR filed at Knowledge Park police station on the basis of a complaint from Jyoti's father. Police are also waiting for the internal report of the university. That inquiry is being carried out by Sharda's internal complaints committee. Jyoti, a resident of Gurgaon, was found dead in her hostel room around 9pm last Friday. "If I die, the teachers of PCP and Dental Material are to blame. Mahinder Sir and Shairy Maam are responsible for my death. I want them to go behind bars. They mentally harassed me. They humiliated me. I was in stress because of them for a long time. I want them to face the same thing. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo I am sorry. I can't live like this anymore. I can't," she wrote in the note. You Can Also Check: Noida AQI | Weather in Noida | Bank Holidays in Noida | Public Holidays in Noida The two teachers she named – assistant professor Shayri Vashisht and associate professor Mahinder Singh Chauhan – were arrested. The four other faculty members named are dean M Siddharth, professor Anurag Hasti, assistant professor Surabhi Duggal and HOD Ashish Chaudhary. Besides section 108 (abetment of suicide), police have invoked charges under BNS sections 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation). "We have questioned faculty members on their experience of teaching her, how she was in class, and what they knew about her personal life. We will also speak to her classmates and those who lived in neighbouring rooms in the hostel," a senior police officer told TOI on Tuesday. "We are also questioning wardens, ambulance workers and university management staff," the officer added. Since the department has been sealed for the investigation, students had been asked to go home. The university's public relations director Ajit Kumar said regular activities started on the campus from Tuesday. But the bachelor of dental studies department will be opened after police and the ICC complete their investigation. The ICC report is expected by Thursday. Jyoti's diary, laptop, mobile phone and other belongings in her hostel room have been sealed according to protocols. The ICC, according to sources, has completed 80% of its inquiry and had taken statements from 35 individuals by Tuesday afternoon, including faculty members, students, wardens and other staff. "By Wednesday, the information collection process will be completed and the committee will proceed with compilation. Though the deadline to submit the report is Friday, the committee will fast-track the process and try to submit it by Thursday," an official said. A spokesperson for the university said the committee is focusing on two aspects. "First, how the academic involvement of the student was, her academic records, and attendance. Second, the hostel administration's role, security and hostel attendance. We will also look into whether she shared anything with her friends regarding mental health issues. CCTV footage will be thoroughly checked." Earlier, one of Jyoti's closest friends had told TOI that both the faculty members arrested had accused her of forging their signatures on her project files. While one of them had allegedly pulled her up before the entire class on July 10, the other, according to the friend, had humiliated Jyoti in the staff room when she had gone asking for his signature on July 18. Another faculty member who was present there had allegedly done the same. After this, Jyoti had a meltdown. Hours later, she was found dead.
