Odisha student warned of suicide in post days before self-immolation

BHUBANESWAR: The 20-year-old student posted on X days before setting herself on fire outside her college in Balasore that she would end her life if no action was taken against a faculty member she accused of sexual harassment.

She created the account in June and on July 1 shared a copy of her complaint to the college's internal complaints committee, a meeting photo, the accused teacher's image, and a highlighted excerpt: "If I don't get justice, I will commit suicide." She tagged the government and student union members.

Her 46-year-old father alleged that the teacher and principal tormented her. "He threatened she wouldn't clear her papers even in six years," he said Sunday. "After the complaint, the teacher formed a student group to target her. It was sheer humiliation."

He said the principal ignored pleas for help and instead pressured his daughter to withdraw her complaint, even threatening rustication. He last spoke to her hours before the self-immolation on Saturday at noon. "She said she was under severe pressure. I asked her to come home. She told me to wait two days for a resolution," he said at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, where the student is battling 90 per cent burns.

"My daughter is strong. A self-defence master trainer, disaster management trainee, best actress winner, poet, and social worker. I can't hold back tears remembering all this," he said.