A female college student died after she allegedly set herself on fire in Odisha's Kendrapara district on Wednesday. According to reports, she was being blackmailed by her boyfriend. This is the second case of self-immolation reported in less than a month, and the third incident of a woman dying from burn injuries in the state.
"I have seen the body. Her father claimed that she died by suicide. The matter will be investigated," said Kendrapara Superintendent of Police Siddarth Kataria.
The father of the 20-year-old has alleged that this daughter had filed a police complaint 6 months ago, however, the police didn't take action. "She was in a relationship with a man and was being blackmailed by him," said her father. He added that after she approached the police for help, she was adviced to "to block the man's mobile number if he was harassing her".
The deceased, when home alone, poured an inflammable substance on herself and then set herself on fire.
Last month, two similar incidents shook Odisha. In Puri district, a 15-year-old girl was attacked by three unidentified youths while on her way to a friend’s home. The assailants made her unconscious with a handkerchief, took her to a nearby riverbank, poured petrol over her, and set her on fire. She was rescued by a villager and initially treated at Pipli CHC before being moved to AIIMS Bhubaneswar, where she suffered burns over around 70 per cent of her body, mostly on her lower torso. She succumbed to her injuries on 2 August.
Earlier, on 12 July, a 20-year-old student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore immolated herself on campus to protest the inaction over sexual harassment allegations against a professor. She suffered 90 per cent burns and later died at AIIMS Bhubaneswar. Police arrested assistant professor Samir Kumar Sahu. The college principal was also suspended for failing to take action despite her complaints to the internal committee and local police.
