NHRC seeks report from Odisha DGP in Kendrapara college student self-immolation case

Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday sought a detailed report from Odisha DGP within two weeks on the self-immolation death of a 19-year-old woman college student, after her FIR against her ex-boyfriend was allegedly not accepted by local police.

The rights panel took suo motu cognisance of the death of a woman student on August 6 due to self-immolation in Kendrapara district of Odisha after alleged police inaction against her former male friend, threatening to upload her obscene photos on social media, an official statement issued by the NHRC said.

The NHRC action came a day after Kendrapara SP Siddharth Kataria said that the woman committed suicide by pouring inflammable substance on her body when no one was present at house on August 6. "It was not a case of honour killing as alleged earlier," the SP had said on Tuesday.

The NHRC picked up the matter amid allegations of police inaction for nearly six months on the complaint against the former male friend blackmailing her. It was alleged that the ex-boyfriend was threatening to post her obscene photos and videos on social media.

The Kendrapara SP has said that her boyfriend on July 17 had sent some objectionable pictures of the victim to her father and 4/5 other persons. The police have seized the mobile phones of all concerned persons and are verifying whether they too made it viral. The police have arrested the victim's ex-boyfriend, who is the lone accused in the case, he said.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raise serious issues of violation of human rights, the statement said, adding that therefore, it has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Odisha, calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks, including the status of the investigation.

It said that according to media reports, the woman was studying at a college in Kendrapara district. Her father alleged that she was being regularly blackmailed by a former male friend. A complaint in this regard was given to the police by the father of the victim about six months back, but neither an FIR was registered nor any action was taken against the alleged perpetrator.

"Rather, a police officer reportedly discouraged him (father) from pursuing the matter and suggested blocking the phone number of the blackmailer," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the SP said that he has transferred ASI Sailendra Mohan Palei from the Pattamundai (Rural) Police Station to ensure a transparent investigation. The victim’s father had named Palei as the police officer who did not register the case six months ago.

The father had said that had Palei registered the case and action had been taken against the accused ex-boyfriend, his daughter would have been alive today.

Palei, however, denied the allegations and claimed that no one had approached him with an FIR, nor did he suggest anyone to block the mobile number of the accused person.