Odisha Student’s Death By Self Immolation:-What Happened Till Now

 After battling for her life for nearly 48 hours, a 20 year old student of an Integrated B.Ed course at the Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore, Odisha finally succumbed to death due to burns on the night of July 14, 2025, in ICU at AIIMS Bhubaneshwar. The victim had suffered 90–95% burns after she self-immolated herself in front of the Principal’s office, on her college campus. This was the final step she took after months of protests against alleged sexual harassment by her college Professor, who threatened her academic future, while the relevant authorities failed to protect her. 

What Happened ?

• Dr. Samir Kumar Sahu, head of the Education Dept., allegedly sexually  harassed a female student of his college and threatened her academic future.
• The student, who was also an ABVP member, filed several complaints against the Professor to the ICC, Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) but also to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and the National Commission for Women (NCW).
• As per reports, the principal allegedly mocked her and also threatened her with rustication.
• According to the family, she had already attempted suicide twice due to continuous harassment; on July 1 she filed a final complaint, warning that she was under serious mental stress and could be forced to take “extreme step”. 
• The ICC gave a clean chit to the Professor on 9th July, while the Police claimed that they were waiting for the college’s response on the complaint.

Suicide:  The Final Protest

• The victim, on the morning of July 13th, protested outside the office of the Principal, later after she left the office she set herself ablaze which was caught on the CCTV camera, fellow students tried to save her, who suffered from injuries as well. 
• Later, during her last hours, President Droupadi Murmu and the Governor of  Odisha Hari Babu Kambhampati visited her at AIIMS, where they assured the family of the victim of every possible support. However, to those looking the presence seemed symbolic as the harm was already caused, as she lost the battle on the night of 14th July. 

Arrests after Death

• Public outrage after the death of the victim forced the concerned authorities to take some action, leading to which the both Sahu and Ghose were suspended by the Higher Education Department of Odisha, as well as their arrests by the Police on the grounds of abetment of suicide, criminal intimidation, and for failing to act on sexual harassment complaints.

Similar cases for the past one month

The recent case is not the only case where an innocent girl became a victim to sexual harassment many other similar cases have also been reported in the state. In the past month of june only, numerous cases have also been reported, including-

1. June 15: On Gopalpur Beach, a 20-year-old college student was allegedly gang-raped by 10 men.
2. June 16: A 17-year-old girl from Keonjhar was reported to be murdered after gang-raped.
3. June 17: A disabled woman was reported to have been sexually harassed while she was taking bath at a local pond.
4. June 23: A fake homeopathy doctor with his assistant and an anganwadi worker were reported to have raped a minor girl in Behrampur. 
5. June 28: In Ganjam, a girl from class 7 was allegedly raped by her relative. 

According to a report by The Hindu, A white paper on crime, which was released by the Odisha Home Department in March 2025, reporded that there were 3,054 rape cases in 2024, which has increased in 2023.

Conclusion

The act of self-immolation by the victim was not a decision taken on impulse but a result of repeated system-wide failure- from the ICC to the police, from her college to the state assembly. She repeatedly protested, complained, but was not believed, threatened, which lead to her burning her own body as a final protest.

The name of the victim may not be remembered, but her image of being burnt in the very premises where she was supposed to be safe, and denied every possible justice, should remain alive in the collective conscience of the entire nation, until even a whiff of such complaint is taken very seriously by every relevant authority. 

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