Odisha university suicide: National Human Rights Commission orders inquiry, forms three-member team

The National Human Rights Commission on Monday ordered an on-spot inquiry into the death of a Nepali student, reportedly by suicide, at Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology on February 16, The Indian Express reported.

The commission is also probing the alleged misconduct by the university’s management toward those protesting the death.

An order issued by the commission said that a three-member team, comprising its Registrar (Law) along with two officers from the investigation division, had been constituted to conduct the inquiry as per provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act.

The order added that one of the officers from the investigation division should not be below the rank of Superintendent of Police, while the other must be from the law division. The team has been asked to submit the inquiry report by March 10.

The 20-year-old student was found dead in the university hostel on February 16. The third-year Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science student was believed to have died by suicide due to a suspected “strained relationship” and the harassment that she allegedly faced from a male batchmate on campus.

On February 17, the Bhubaneswar Police arrested the 21-year-old man from Lucknow in connection with the alleged suicide. The first information report in the case alleges that he was blackmailing the Nepali student.

The student’s death had...

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