Balasore FM College student death case: High Court grants bail to two, rejects plea of others

In the ongoing investigation of the girl student suicide case at Balasore Fakir Mohan (FM) Autonomous College, the Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted bail to two accused individuals while rejecting bail pleas for two others.

The accused student leaders, Jyotiprakash Biswal and Shubhra Sambit Nayak, secured bail from the High Court. However, the bail applications of the principal accused, Professor Sameer Sahu, and the college principal, Dillip Ghosh, were dismissed.

The court further directed that any bail applications after the filing of the chargesheet will be considered accordingly.

Also Read: Balasore FM College tragedy: Timeline of harassment allegations, neglect and the death of a student

Worth mentioning, a girl student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore, who set herself ablaze on campus after alleging sexual harassment by a senior faculty member, succumbed to her injuries late on July 14 at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

Her death sparked widespread outrage, arrests of top college officials, and high-level interventions by the state.

The sequence of events began on June 30, when the student reportedly met the college principal, Dillip Ghosh, inside his chamber to formally raise allegations of sexual harassment against Sameer Ranjan Sahoo, the Head of the Education Department.

As per the complaint, the faculty member had allegedly demanded sexual favours and threatened to ruin her academic future with backlogs if she did not comply. Despite the seriousness of her charges, students say the administration allegedly took no visible action.