BALASORE: OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das met the parents of the FM Autonomous College student on Tuesday and assured the bereaved family that the Congress party would raise the issue and fight to ensure justice.
Speaking to mediapersons, Das alleged that the district police failed to support the 20-year-old student when she had approached the Sahadevkhunta police station to lodge an FIR against the head of the Education department Samira Sahu.
Instead of filing an FIR, the police merely made an entry in the station diary and informally met with the college authorities, without taking strict action against the accused, he said.
Das demanded a high-level inquiry into the role of the police, Sahu, and the now-suspended principal of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College Dillip Ghosh, holding them accountable for their negligence. He stated that if prompt action had been taken against the HoD at the initial stage, the student might not have been driven to take the extreme step.
The victim’s father, Balaram Bisi appealed to political parties not to politicise the tragic death of his daughter.
Meanwhile, the BJD staged a protest by blocking the NH 18 near the Jubilee petrol pump square at Murgabadi Golei in Baripada, expressing anger over the government’s alleged failure to act on the victim’s complaints.
BJD district president Sudam Marndi blamed Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj for the incident. He said atrocities against women have increased under the “double-engine government” and accused the administration of gross negligence in handling the student’s complaints.
The protestors also burned effigies of the higher education minister as part of the demonstration. Police arrived at the scene and engaged with the agitators. Tensions escalated into a heated argument, and the police eventually dispersed the protesters. The roadblock was lifted after about half an hour.