KENDRAPARA: A 17-year-old college girl of Pattamundai died by suicide after a male lecturer allegedly molested her under the pretext of frisking her before allowing entry into the examination hall.
The shocking incident took place on February 24 but came to light on Sunday after the girl’s mother lodged a complaint with Pattamundai Rural police in this connection.
In her complaint, the mother alleged that on February 19, her daughter went to college to write the Odia paper of the Plus Two examination. During the frisking process, a male teacher touched her inappropriately and molested her.
“Instead of deploying a female teacher, the college authorities allowed a male lecturer to frisk my daughter. The incident left the girl in severe psychological distress. Unable to bear the humiliation, she hanged herself at home on February 24. Before her death, she had told me about the incident,” she claimed.
However, principal of the college refuted the allegations and said, “All girl students are frisked by female staff before being allowed to enter the examination hall. Therefore, there is no truth in the allegation that a male teacher inappropriately touched a student during frisking.”
He further said the deceased student wrote the Odia paper on February 19 while her next examination was scheduled on February 28. However, she died on February 24. “It seems her mother filed an FIR against the teacher after a gap of several days with an ulterior motive to defame the college,” the principal added.
IIC of Pattamundai Rural police station Dheeraj Lenka said on basis of the FIR, a case was registered under section 108 of BNS and section 8 of POCSO Act, 2012. “The deceased has not left behind any suicide note. We are verifying the footage of CCTV camera installed in the college to verify the veracity of the allegations. Further investigation is underway,” Lenka added.