Braveheart silenced: Odisha student who fought harassment dies after setting herself ablaze on campus

She was just 20, a fearless voice from a border village who had carved an identity far beyond her years — as an ABVP activist, a self-defense trainer, an Aapda Mitra during cyclones, and a student who dreamed big. But on July 12, after weeks of battling institutional apathy over her sexual harassment complaint, her fight ended in flames.

Two days after she set herself ablaze on her college campus in Balasore, she succumbed to her injuries — leaving behind a grieving family, shaken friends, and haunting questions about how a prestigious institution failed to protect its own.

Her journey had started with hope. The younger of two siblings, she left her home in a modest village on the Odisha–West Bengal border to join a five-year integrated course at one of Balasore’s most reputed government colleges. Her father recalled how proud she was to study where luminaries had once walked. “She was strong-willed and industrious,” he said, his voice breaking. “She believed in helping others and stood tall against injustice. She kept fighting until her last breath.”

Her activism was not new. From her school days, she had aligned with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), participating in every local event. During natural disasters, she volunteered as an Aapda Mitra to help distressed communities. On campus, she trained women in self-defence and was known as a gifted painter, singer, and actor — an “all-rounder,” as peers called her.

But behind that determined exterior, she was suffering.

On June 30, she lodged a written complaint with the principal, accusing assistant professor Samir Kumar Sahu of sexual harassment. Her friends say she was visibly disturbed ever since. “She cried on the phone with her mother the night before. I stayed up with her till 3 am,” said her roommate of two years. “She wasn’t eating. She looked lost. But none of us imagined this.”

That afternoon, she asked their regular eatery to deliver her lunch early — an unusual request. Hours later, she walked onto the college premises and set herself on fire. She sustained severe burns and was rushed to a hospital, but died on July 14.

Both the accused professor and the college principal, Dillip Kumar Ghose — who allegedly ignored her plea—have since been arrested.

Her friends believe the mental toll was compounded by online bullying. “She had been facing attendance issues due to family emergencies — her mother’s surgery, a grandparent’s death. But ever since she spoke out against the professor, she was targeted online. It broke her,” said a batchmate.

Her father’s voice still echoes with anguish: “I will never get my daughter back. But no other parent should go through this. The system failed her. Let it not fail anyone else.”