Rumesha Ramanika

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 10: A third-year student of Information Technology (IT) at a private engineering college here committed suicide last evening by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel room.

The family members of the 21-year-old Rumesha Ramanika, who hailed from Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district, alleged that mental harassment by college employees had forced her to commit suicide.

The authorities, however, refuted the charge and said the deceased had failed in several subjects in the last semester examination. She took her own life as she could not cope with the pressure of studies.

Rumesha’s body was recovered from her room around 10.30pm. “When the hostel superintendent found her missing during roll call, she made an inquiry but her room was found locked from inside. When the superintendent looked through the skylight, she found her body hanging from the ceiling with her dupatta. She was rushed to nearby private hospital, but the doctors declared her brought dead,” said college administrator Chandrijit Swain.

The authorities said Rumesha was staying in that room with three other girls who were on leave for Id. The girl’s father Duryodhan Sethi, who is a schoolteacher in Paradip, said he was informed about her daughter’s death around 11pm. The family immediately rushed to Bhubaneswar.

Sethi said Rumesha was the only girl child in the family. He said the girl had recently spoke to him and her mother, but did not complain about anything. She, however, used to complain about high fees demanded by the college authorities.

“She had told us that she had failed in one paper, which she would clear in the next examination. But her death was sudden. I demand a inquiry into the matter as I fear the mental harassment by college employees may be the reason behind her death,” said the father.

The authorities said that on August 8, the result of her third semester was published, in which, she failed in five out of six subjects. They also said the girl had back papers in nine other subjects from first and second semester. “She might not have been able to cope with the failure. Police are inquiring into the matter and we are co-operating with them,” said the administrator.

However, the girl’s father alleged that the college authorities had never informed him or any of the family members about the back papers earlier. He later lodged a complaint with Infocity police.

“We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” said a senior police officer.

Several students’ union of Biju Pattnaik University of Technology (BPUT) alleged that the college authorities were responsible for the girl’s death. Former president of the BPUT students’ union Vijay Basantia said while interacting with other students he had found a staff member of the college used to mentally harass the girl by shouting at her every now and then and threatening to expel her from the college.