New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) The Congress hit out at the BJP on Tuesday after an Odisha college student who set herself ablaze following alleged sexual harassment by a professor died, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying the country wants answers and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence”.
Gandhi’s remarks came after the Odisha college student died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar.
The second-year integrated B.Ed student of the Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore died on Monday night, after fighting for life for three days.
She took the extreme step on Saturday over the alleged inaction against the professor and suffered 95 per cent burns.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said the death of a daughter fighting for justice in Odisha is a “direct murder by the BJP system”.
That brave student raised her voice against sexual exploitation but instead of justice, she was threatened, harassed and humiliated repeatedly, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Those supposed to protect her kept oppressing her, Gandhi added.
“Like every time, the BJP system kept protecting the accused — and forced an innocent daughter to set herself on fire,” he said.
“This is not suicide, this is an organised murder by the system,” Gandhi alleged.
“Modiji, be it Odisha or Manipur — the daughters of the country are burning, breaking down, dying. And you? Sitting silent. The country does not want your silence, it wants answers,” the former Congress president said.
The daughters of India want security and justice, he asserted.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in Odisha, another daughter has lost her battle for justice.
“She raised her voice against the atrocities committed against her, but instead of justice, she faced humiliation and harassment. This double oppression forced her to take her own life. Is it the same pattern of the BJP, from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, from Manipur to Odisha — standing with the accused, tormenting the victim and obstructing justice?” she asked in a post in Hindi on X.
“Prime minister, should half of the country’s population now abandon all hope for justice?” Priyanka Gandhi asked further.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the daughter of Odisha, who had given up her hope for justice from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, has also left this world.
“Just 20 years old…. The mere thought of what that girl must have gone through sends shivers down the spine. How helpless she must have felt on her own campus. The rotten system of the BJP broke her to such an extent that she took the painful step of setting herself on fire,” Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.
She pleaded for help everywhere — from the college principal to the local MP and the chief minister — but her pleas went unheard, he said.
“In the BJP government, the voices of women victims of crime are not being heard. And how could they be — those entrusted with their protection are now standing hand in hand with the oppressors,” Ramesh alleged.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal also slammed the BJP over the college student’s death.
He claimed that the law-and-order situation in Odisha is collapsing every day, with even educational institutions turning into dangerous places for women. Cries for help and justice are falling on deaf ears, Venugopal said, adding, “It became so unbearable that a young student was forced to immolate herself, and she succumbed to the injuries….” The BJP has a horrible track record of shielding assaulters and neglecting the plight of women, he claimed.
“We demand accountability for this horrific situation, and we will not rest until justice is served and the perpetrators of this unspeakable crime are given the harshest punishment,” Venugopal said.
The woman was first admitted to the Balasore district hospital and then shifted to the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar for advanced treatment. She was undergoing treatment in the ICU, Department of Burn Centre, according to officials.
“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. PTI ASK RC
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