A 20-year-old college student from Odisha’s Kendrapara district allegedly died by self-immolation on Wednesday after police purportedly refused to register her complaint of being blackmailed by her boyfriend.

The incident occurred in Kathiapada village under Pattamundai police station. The girl was a Plus-Three final-year student at a college in Pattamundai.

This is the second case of self-immolation and the third incident of a woman dying of burn injuries after being set on fire in the state in the past month.

Sources said the girl had been in a relationship with a classmate, but the relationship soured. The boy had allegedly taken objectionable photographs of her and later attempted to blackmail her by threatening to make the images public.

The father of the student told The Telegraph: “When my daughter tried to move away from the boy, he tried to blackmail her. I had approached the police, but they did not register our FIR.”

“Instead of registering our complaint, the police asked us to block the number of the boy if he was harassing her,” he added.

On the day of the incident, the girl was alone at home while her parents were out for health-related work in Pattamundai town. She allegedly purchased petrol and set herself on fire.
Her parents broke open the door after she did not respond to repeated knocks. Her father, who works at a finance company, said she had earlier attempted suicide in a similar manner and had been counselled at the time.

“She was heartbroken that the police did not take any action against the boy,” the father said. The girl also has a brother who works in Gujarat.

The forensic team visited the house and seized the girl’s belongings for examination. Her body has been sent for post-mortem. Kendrapara superintendent of police Siddharth Kataria said: “Her father says she died by suicide. I will personally enquire into the matter and see why the FIR was not registered when her parents went to the police station.”

The incident comes in the wake of a string of similar cases in the state over the past month. On July 12, a 20-year-old college student from Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College had set herself ablaze outside the principal’s chamber, allegedly after her sexual harassment complaint against a professor went unaddressed. She succumbed to her injuries two days later at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.

Barely a week later, on July 19, a 16-year-old girl was set on fire by three men at a riverbank in the Balanga area of Puri district. She was airlifted to AIIMS, New Delhi, but died on August 2.

The Kendrapara case has triggered fresh political outrage, with the Opposition targeting the Mohan Charan Majhi-led government. BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty called upon the chief minister to give up the his home portfolio.