An undergraduate student, who set herself on fire after her complaint of sexual harassment by a faculty member in Odisha’s Balasore district allegedly went unaddressed, succumbed to her injuries on Monday, The Hindu reported.

A bulletin from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar said that the student could not be revived and was declared clinically dead at 11.46 pm “despite adequate resuscitation and all possible supportive management, including renal replacement therapy at Burns ICU”.

The student had set herself on fire on campus on Saturday shortly after meeting Dilip Ghosh, the principal of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, to follow up on her complaint against Samir Kumar Sahu, an assistant professor.

Sahu was arrested on Saturday and sent to judicial custody. He is facing charges of abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation, sexual harassment, stalking and outraging the modesty of a woman.

On Monday, the police also arrested Ghosh on charges of abetment to suicide. This came a day after the state higher education department suspended him for alleged negligence.

The 20-year-old student had accused Sahu of seeking “undue and inappropriate favours” and threatening to jeopardise her academic future if she refused. She also alleged that she was being stopped from attending classes.

The student had first submitted a written complaint to the internal complaints committee of the college on June 30. She had also told the authorities that she was under extreme mental stress.

On July 1, she filed a police complaint, on which no action was reportedly taken.

Her father has alleged that the principal had pressured her to withdraw the complaint instead of taking disciplinary action, The Indian Express reported.

Balasore Superintendent of Police Raj Prasad on Sunday said that a special team has been formed to investigate the matter. Responding to questions about the delay in taking action, Prasad said that the police had approached the internal complaints committee after receiving the complaint.

The committee had said that it would submit a report within five days, he claimed.

Following the death of the student, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed his condolences to her family. “Despite the government fulfilling all responsibilities and the relentless efforts of the team of specialist doctors, her life could not be saved,” he said on social media.

“I assure the family of the deceased student that all those guilty in this case will face the stringent punishment as per the law,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader added. “For this, I have personally issued instructions to the authorities. The government stands firmly with the family.”

Opposition calls for Odisha bandh

Eight Opposition parties in Odisha, including the Biju Janata Dal and the Congress, called for a state-wide strike on Thursday over the student’s death, ANI reported.

The Opposition demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and the resignation of the state's higher education minister.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the student’s death was “nothing less than a murder by the BJP’s system”.

Instead of delivering justice, the student had been threatened, tormented and repeatedly humiliated, Gandhi said. “As always, the BJP’s system continued to shield the accused – and forced an innocent daughter to set herself on fire,” he added.

Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Tuesday that the “most painful part is that this was not an accident, but rather the result of a system that remained silent instead of helping”.

“…The entire sequence of events reveals that this is nothing less than institutional betrayal – a planned injustice,” he said.

The National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women have taken cognisance of the matter, The Hindu reported. Additionally, the Crime Against Women and Children Wing of the Odisha Police is conducting a separate investigation into the matter.

The state government on Monday also asked all colleges to form internal complaint committees within 24 hours. The 2013 Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act requires all organisations with 10 or more employees to set up such committees.