2 more held on charges of instigating Odisha college student to commit self-immolation
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Two men were arrested in Odisha's Balasore district for allegedly instigating a 20-year-old college student to commit self-immolation, police said on Monday.
The Crime Branch of the state police apprehended the two late on Sunday in connection with the death of the woman last month, a senior officer said.
The woman student of the Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore had set herself on fire as her complaint of sexual harassment was “not validated” by an internal enquiry committee of the institute, the police had said.
"The arrested persons are Jyoti Prakash Biswal, a student of the college, who had sustained burn injuries in an attempt to save the woman, and Subhra Sambait Nayak, the state joint secretary of a student organisation," the officer said.
Biswal was recently discharged from the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack after recovering from burn injuries.
They were picked up from their residences late on Sunday, the officer said.
Earlier, Samira Kumar Sahoo, an assistant professor of the college, and ex-principal of the institute, Dillip Ghose, were arrested on charges of abetment of suicide.
The police said that Biswal and Nayak, the two arrested persons, were produced before the residential office of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Balasore, on Sunday night, and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days after their bail petitions were rejected.
The woman student had on July 12 poured petrol on her body and set herself on fire for allegedly being denied justice in a sexual harassment case against the head of the department (HoD) of Integrated BEd.
She sustained 95 per cent burn injuries and died on the night of July 14 while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the police had said.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
