Odisha Student Self-Immolation: UGC Forms 4-Member Panel To Probe Balasore College Case

Following a student's self-immolation and subsequent death after accusing a professor of sexual harassment at Fakir Mohan College, the UGC has formed a four-member fact-finding panel.

The University Grants Commission (UGC)'s panel will be headed by Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Professor and UGC member Raj Kumar Mittal

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New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) The University Grants Commission (UGC) has set up a four-member fact-finding panel to look into the incident of self-immolation by a girl student on college campus in Odisha's Balasore, officials said on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old second-year BEd student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Balasore had accused the Head of Education Department, Samira Kumar Sahu, of sexually harassing her.

The student set herself on fire on Saturday on the college campus over alleged inaction against the professor and suffered 95 per cent burns. She died at the AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday night after battling for life for about 60 hours.

"A four-member panel has been formed to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident, including availability and effectiveness of factors such as institutional policies, grievance redressal mechanism, anti-harassment measures adopted and student support systems," said UGC Secretary Sudeep Singh Jain.

"The panel will also assess compliance with the stipulated regulatory provisions, and suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future," he added.

The panel will be headed by Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Professor and UGC member Raj Kumar Mittal. The other members of the panel include former UGC member Sushma Yadav, former Gujarat University vice chancellor Neerja Gupta and UGC Joint Secretary Ashima Mangla.

"The panel would conduct onsite assessment to verify the actual implementation of measures adopted by the institution for ensuring safety of female students and well-being policies, beyond documented compliance. The members will do engagement with stakeholders, including students, faculty administrators, and support staff to assess institutional culture, student experience and challenges faced," Jain said.

According to officials, the student was first admitted to the Balasore district hospital and then shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment. She was undergoing treatment in the ICU, Department of Burn Centre, they said.

"The patient was resuscitated with IV fluids, IV antibiotics, intubated and put on mechanical ventilation. Despite adequate resuscitation and all possible supportive management, including renal replacement therapy at the Burns ICU, she could not be revived and was declared clinically dead at 11:46 pm on July 14," the Department of Burn Centre said in a statement. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)