UGC sets up 4-member panel to look into Odisha student’s self-immolation

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 B Ed 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 examine circumstances surrounding the incident, assess compliance with the stipulated regulatory provisions, and suggest measures to prevent such incidents," he added.

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