First KIIT Row, Now Balasore Pupil’s Self-Immolation: Why Odisha CM Mohan Majhi Is On His Personal

Final Up to date:July 15, 2025, 16:10 IST

Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi is beneath assault over the self-immolation of a 20-year-old Balasore pupil who had complained of sexual harassment

Final June, in Odisha’s Janata Maidan, in entrance of a crowd of 30,000 and within the presence of Bharatiya Janata Social gathering’s prime management, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mohan Charan Majhi took oath because the BJP’s first Chief Minister of Odisha.

Barely 13 months later, his political experience has gotten tough.

Each the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress are gunning for him. On the coronary heart of it’s a 20-year-old lady’s neglected grievance of sexual harassment, which pressured her to take her life and is now making nationwide headlines.

The 20-year-old woman, who was doing a BEd course, set herself on fireplace outdoors the principal’s workplace throughout a protest. She was upset as a result of her grievance towards a trainer was not being addressed.

Paying attention to the difficulty, throughout her go to to the hospital for its fifth convocation, President Droupadi Murmu additionally visited the girl at AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday. Inside hours, she handed away.

Odisha CM faces hardest take a look at: Comparable case reported earlier this yr

Earlier than the sufferer of Fakir Mohan Autonomous School took the acute step, an identical case had rocked Odisha earlier this yr.

A 20-year-old Nepalese pupil at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Know-how (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar reported sexual harassment and blackmail by one other pupil, however the college’s Worldwide Relations Workplace (IRO) and disciplinary committee did not act adequately, disposing of the grievance casually, with out referring it to the Inner Complaints Committee or police. The Nationwide Human Rights Fee (NHRC) needed to step in and located it to be a case of gross negligence, amounting to abetment of suicide. The matter had worldwide ramifications with Nepal getting concerned.

Central our bodies concerned in Balasore case

In politics, messaging issues and notably on this case, the BJP has tried to hyphen itself with Majhi’s administration. The NHRC and Nationwide Fee for Ladies (NCW) — each central our bodies — have taken cognisance of the matter.

“District SP is directed to furnish a report together with all of the supplies earlier than the Fee inside a interval of 15 days,” NHRC said in its order. The Fee additionally directed the district collector and chief district medical officer (CDMO) to apprise it concerning the medical care supplied to the sufferer whereas she was alive.

The NCW, not too long ago known as the occasion “deeply disturbing” whereas asking the Odisha DGP for report on what motion the state has taken inside subsequent three days.

It’s slightly uncommon for central our bodies to behave with such promptness when the crime has taken place in a state that’s dominated by the ruling occasion — an allegation many opposition events such because the TMC, SP have usually made.

BJP’s core voter base is ladies

Ladies have emerged because the BJP’s core voter base over the previous few years. Schemes, too, have been customised to cater to them — Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, One Cease Centres, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila Shakti Kendra, Working Ladies Hostel, amongst others. States, too, have adopted swimsuit and wooed ladies in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi efficiently.

So, the occasion can’t afford to have one case, which the BJP views because the state’s legislation and order deficiency, harm that picture.

Amid the BJD and Congress’s demand for a judicial inquiry and the BJP leaving Manjhi to fend for himself, the four-time MLA from Keonjhar faces his hardest take a look at.

Anindya Banerjee

Anindya Banerjee, Affiliate Editor brings over fifteen years of journalistic braveness to the forefront. With a eager concentrate on politics and coverage, Anindya has garnered a wealth of expertise, with deep throat in …Learn Extra

Anindya Banerjee, Affiliate Editor brings over fifteen years of journalistic braveness to the forefront. With a eager concentrate on politics and coverage, Anindya has garnered a wealth of expertise, with deep throat in … Learn Extra

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