Days after a student from Balasore died after attempting self-immolation, another 20-year-old student has accused an Assistant Professor of Gangadhar Meher University of sexually exploiting her under the false pretext of marriage.
Following the student's complaint, the assistant professor of a government university was arrested in Odisha’s Sambalpur on Thursday.
The complaint was lodged at the Sambalpur Mahila Police Station on July 16, on the basis of which a case was registered and the accused was arrested. According to the student's complaint, the accused professor sexually exploited her at his official quarters. He had allegedly promised to marry her and later refused to do so after sexually exploiting her, the complaint said, as reported by news agency PTI.
The accused, Gopikant Suna (32), a native of Dahita village under Buden police station in Bargarh district, has been booked under Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, news agency ANI reported citing Sambalpur Police.
The accused was arrested on July 17 and produced before the court the same day. He has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by a court.
The university also suspended the assistant professor with immediate effect following his arrest.
The development comes just days after a 20-year-old student set herself on fire over alleged inaction against a professor, who had allegedly sexually harassed her. She was a second-year B.Ed student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore.
She attempted self immolation on the college campus and was then admitted at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar on Monday night. She had suffered 95 percent burns and died after battling for life for almost 60 hours.
Both the principal of the college and the accused professor have been arrested by the police.
The opposition Biju Janata Dal party called a bandh in the state over the incident, as a result of which markets, schools, and colleges remained shut and vehicled remained off the roads on Juluy 16.