Victim targeted by peers in a letter with 71 signatures defending prof

{ ODISHA SELF-IMMOLATION CASE

- Debabrata Mohanty

Less than a week after a 20-year-old B.Ed student in a Balasore college attempted self-immolation to protest inaction and harassment following her complaints of sexual harassment by a professor, and three days after her death, it has emerged that 71 of her 100 classmates wrote a letter on July 1, supporting the professor against whom she complained.

Her family, friends, and even some classmates say the letter shows how everyone “ganged up” against her at prompting of college administration.

The two page letter written in Odia accused the girl of levelling false allegation against head of the department of teachers’ education, Samir Kumar Sahoo at Fakir Mohan(Autonomous) College . It came a day after the woman first lodged a complaint with then college principal Dilip Ghose accusing Sahoo of sexual harassment and mental torture, and hailed Sahoo as a “great teacher who is known for his amiable ways”.