First KIIT Row, Now Balasore Student’s Self-Immolation: Why Odisha CM Mohan Majhi Is On His Own

Last Updated:July 15, 2025, 15:49 IST

Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi is under attack for overlooking a complaint of sexual harassment of a 20-year-old woman that forced her to take her life in Balasore

Odisha CM Mohan Manjhi; (right) bereaved family members of Balasore student. (PTI)

Last June, in Odisha’s Janata Maidan, in front of a crowd of 30,000 and in the presence of Bharatiya Janata Party’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the BJP’s first Chief Minister of Odisha.

Barely 13 months later, his political ride has gotten rough.

Both the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress are gunning for him. At the heart of it is a 20-year-old woman’s overlooked complaint of sexual harassment, which forced her to take her life and is now making national headlines.

The 20-year-old girl, who was doing a BEd course, set herself on fire outside the principal’s office during a protest. She was upset because her complaint against a teacher was not being addressed.

Taking note of the issue, during her visit to the hospital for its fifth convocation, President Droupadi Murmu also visited the woman at AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday. Within hours, she passed away.

Odisha CM faces toughest test: Similar case reported earlier this year

Before the victim of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College took the extreme step, a similar case had rocked Odisha earlier this year.

A 20-year-old Nepalese student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar reported sexual harassment and blackmail by another student, but the university’s Relations Office (IRO) and disciplinary committee failed to act adequately, disposing of the complaint casually, without referring it to the Internal Complaints Committee or police. The Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had to step in and found it to be a case of gross negligence, amounting to abetment of suicide. The matter had international ramifications with Nepal getting involved.

Central bodies involved in Balasore case

In politics, messaging matters and particularly in this case, the BJP has tried to hyphen itself with Majhi’s administration. The NHRC and Commission for Women (NCW) — both central bodies — have taken cognisance of the matter.

“District SP is directed to furnish a report along with all the materials before the Commission within a period of 15 days," NHRC stated in its order. The Commission also directed the district collector and chief district medical officer (CDMO) to apprise it about the medical care provided to the victim while she was alive.

The NCW, recently called the event “deeply disturbing" while asking the Odisha DGP for report on what action the state has taken within next three days.

It is rather unusual for central bodies to act with such promptness when the crime has taken place in a state that is ruled by the ruling party — an allegation many opposition parties such as the TMC, SP have often made.

BJP’s core voter base is women

Women have emerged as the BJP’s core voter base over the past few years. Schemes, too, have been customised to cater to them — Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, One Stop Centres, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila Shakti Kendra, Working Women Hostel, among others. States, too, have followed suit and wooed women in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi successfully.

So, the party cannot afford to have one case, which the BJP views as the state’s law and order deficiency, hurt that image.

Amid the BJD and Congress’s demand for a judicial inquiry and the BJP leaving Manjhi to fend for himself, the four-time MLA from Keonjhar faces his toughest test.

News politics First KIIT Row, Now Balasore Student’s Self-Immolation: Why Odisha CM Mohan Majhi Is On His Own