The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staged a massive protest outside the Odisha Secretariat in Bhubaneswar and enforced an eight-hour bandh in Balasore district on Wednesday, demanding a judicial probe into the self-immolation death of Soumyashree Bisi, a 20-year-old B.Ed student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College. The student, who succumbed to 95% burn injuries at AIIMS Bhubaneswar on July 14, set herself ablaze on July 12, alleging inaction on her sexual harassment complaint against professor Sameer Ranjan Sahoo.

In Bhubaneswar, hundreds of BJD workers marched from Master Canteen Square to Lok Seva Bhawan, attempting to breach barricades. Police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd, detaining several protesters. Demonstrations also disrupted Jaleswar, Basta, Soro, Baliapal, and Bhograi, with BJD activists burning tyres and blocking roads, halting traffic and closing markets and schools from 6 AM to 2 PM.

BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said, “People are angry over the denial of justice. We’ll agitate until the BJP government orders a judicial probe by a sitting Orissa High Court judge.” The party also demanded the resignations of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj, accusing them of systemic failure. Congress and seven Left parties have called for a statewide bandh on July 17 to echo these demands.

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The accused professor and college principal Dilip Ghosh have been arrested under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including abetment to suicide and sexual harassment. Chief Minister Majhi, expressing grief, announced ₹20 lakh ex-gratia for Soumyashree’s family and vowed “stringent punishment” for the guilty. A UGC fact-finding committee and a high-level inquiry are underway, but opposition parties allege a cover-up, questioning the hurried nighttime post-mortem.

The Mohan Char

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