‘Everyone together forced my daughter to die’: Father of Balasore student demands justice, alleges conspiracy

Balasore: The father of the 20-year-old college student from Odisha who died after self-immolation has alleged that a conspiracy led to her death, demanding that those involved be charged with murder.

"Everyone together forced my daughter to die. Isn’t that murder? I believe it was a conspiracy because she used to raise her voice in college, and they didn’t like it. They all conspired to force my daughter to commit suicide. Why did she commit suicide right after coming out of the Principal’s room? Something must have happened inside... What happened inside? Why was she called in alone? Why wasn’t I or my son called?... I request the government to acknowledge that my daughter didn’t die, she was killed, and everyone should be charged with murder," he said in an emotional appeal.

The second-year Integrated B.Ed student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore had accused a professor of sexual harassment. She allegedly set herself on fire on July 12, moments after exiting the principal’s office, citing inaction on her complaint.

Suffering 95 per cent burns, she was initially treated at Balasore District Headquarters Hospital and later shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar. She succumbed to her injuries hours after President Droupadi Murmu visited her in the ICU.

The student’s father held the college's Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) "solely responsible" for preparing a "biased report" that he said pushed his daughter to take the extreme step.

The incident has sparked nationwide outrage. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed sorrow over the death and promised the "strictest punishment" for those responsible. Opposition leaders, including Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, have called it an "organised murder by the system".

A state-wide bandh has been called by opposition parties on July 17 to protest the incident and demand accountability.