Congress MP moves adjournment motion in Lok Sabha to discuss Odisha’s FM College case

New Delhi, July 22: Congress MP from Koraput constituency in Odisha, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, moved an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha to discuss the case of self-immolation of a 20-year-old B.Ed. student of Fakir Mohan (FM) Autonomous College in Balasore, who died reportedly due to "mental harassment and failure of the institutional mechanisms to respond to her repeated complaints."

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"Allegedly the student had been facing persistent harassment and intimidation at the hands of certain faculty members and peers, and despite her written and verbal appeals to the authorities concerned, no timely or meaningful action was taken to address her grievances, pushing her to take the extreme step," the notice signed by Ulaka read. 

Ulaka stated that the incident has shaken the nation, highlighting the systemic indifference, lack of accountability, and the failure of effective grievance redressal systems in educational institutions.

Calling the death of the student, who took his own life by self-immolation, a "serious failure of governance," Ulaka said the matter needs urgent attention in the lower house to take real steps to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Earlier, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party workers protested at the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) office in Sambalpur over the student's death. During the protest, BJD MLA Barsha Singh demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and the Higher Education Minister.

It is worth noting that the student attempted self-immolation on her college campus on July 12. She poured petrol and set herself on fire outside the principal's office, allegedly in protest of inaction on her sexual harassment complaint against the Head of the Department, Samir Kumar Sahu.

She sustained over 90 percent burn injuries and was initially rushed to Balasore Medical College before being transferred to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment.

Despite extensive medical interventions, including mechanical ventilation and renal replacement therapy, she was declared dead at 11:46 PM on July 14.