Balasore, Aug 4 (PTI) Two student leaders, who shot the video of the 20-year-old woman setting herself on fire at a college in Odisha’s Balasore district, were arrested on Monday on abetment of suicide charges, according to the police.
Those arrested were identified as Subhra Sambait Nayak, and Jyoti Prakash Biswal, a student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, where the woman studied, they said.
Biswal was initially hailed for trying to save the woman, who set herself on fire on July 12 over alleged inaction on her sexual harassment complaint against a professor. He had also suffered burn injuries while trying to douse the blaze.
The duo was arrested on Sunday night and booked under BNS section 108 (abetment of suicide) and 61(2) (a) (criminal conspiracy), police said.
They knew about the woman’s plan of self-immolation and filmed the video of it, which went viral on social media, an officer of the Crime Branch said.
Biswal was recently discharged from the SCB Medical College and Hospital after recovering from burn injuries. The state government had praised him for his “heroic” attempt to save the woman.
“Yes, initially it was believed that Biswal attempted to save the burning woman. But, during the investigation, it came to the fore that he was aware of the woman’s plan and filmed the self-immolation attempt on his mobile phone. In the process, he sustained burn injuries,” the officer said.
Biswal and Nayak were produced before a court, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.
The woman, who sustained 95 per cent burn injuries, had died on July 14 while undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.
She allegedly poured petrol and set herself on fire, claiming that the college authorities were not taking any action against the head of the department (HoD) of the integrated B Ed course, who allegedly sought sexual favours from her.
The HoD, Samira Kumar Sahoo, and the college’s principal, Dillip Ghose, were earlier arrested on abetment of suicide charges. With the fresh arrests, the number of persons in custody rose to four.
Following the arrests, the opposition BJD alleged that the woman was forced to take her life by ABVP members.
“This is evident from the arrest of Subhra Sambait Nayak, who is the state joint secretary of ABVP,” BJD MLA Goutam Buddha Das said, addressing a press conference.
BJD students’ wing leader Ipsita Sahoo claimed, “Jyoti Prakash Biswal, the so-called saviour of the woman, also belongs to ABVP. There was a conspiracy, and the woman was a victim of it.” The ABVP was not immediately available for a comment. PTI COR AAM AAM SOM
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