Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Mohan Charan Majhi-led government over the immolation deaths of three young women in Odisha in the past month, accusing it of gross neglect and administrative apathy.

Naveen asked: “How many more mothers must hold the ashes of their daughters before the BJP government acts? It is a terrible neglect on the part of the government.”

The BJD supremo wrote on X: “It pains to know that within a month, three young girls have lost their lives in very similar circumstances. Each fatal flame that consumed these innocent lives indicates a disturbing pattern in Odisha. Three daughters of our soil died in broad daylight because the apathetic administration failed to hear their screams at every turn. Not to mention many more such heinous crimes against women being reported across the state, almost daily.”

“How many more funeral pyres must light up before the state BJP government will wake up?” the leader of the Opposition in Odisha Assembly added.

The 20-year-old college student from Kendrapara district allegedly died after setting herself on fire on Wednesday purportedly after police refused to register a case against her boyfriend who was allegedly blackmailing her.

Following allegations of police negligence, assistant sub-inspector Sailendra Mohan Pallai of Pattamundai police station was transferred. He had allegedly advised the girl’s parents to simply block the boyfriend’s number.

Leaders from across party lines met the bereaved parents on Wednesday and expressed their condolences. The post-mortem was conducted at SCB Medical College and Hospital.

Puri protest

The BJD observed a six-hour bandh across Puri district, protesting police failure to solve the Balanga case, where a 16-year-old girl was set ablaze by three men on a riverbank on July 19. She succumbed to her injuries at AIIMS, Delhi, on August 2. The strike brought life to a standstill across the district, with shops and markets remaining shut.

The party also cited the case of a second-year BEd student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore, who set herself ablaze on July 12 after allegedly being harassed by a teacher demanding sexual favours.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, BJD spokesperson Lekhasri Samantsinghar and Bhograi MLA Goutam Buddha Das questioned the removal of crime branch inspector-general of police (IGP) S. Shyni from the Balasore case probe after the arrest of two ABVP student leaders.

“After the crime branch arrested two student ABVP leaders, Jyoti Prakash Biswal and Subhra Sambit Nayak, on the charge of abetment of suicide of the second-year BEd course student, the state government has asked inspector-general of police, crime branch, S. Shyni, who was heading the probe, to proceed on leave and assigned the investigation task to a junior level officer. It is a deliberate attempt to divert the focus of the inquiry and shield some top party leaders,” the leaders said.

They demanded that the government clarify whether Shyni would resume charge of the investigation after returning from leave on August 15, and called for a judicial probe.

“We are losing faith in the police. Let a judicial probe be ordered into this issue and the chief minister (Mohan Charan Majhi) must resign for his failure to handle the home department which is under his direct control,” the BJD leaders said.