A 12-hour bandh was observed in Odisha on Tuesday against alleged police inaction on abettors in the reported death by suicide of a woman student of BJB Autonomous College here after ragging.
The bandh, which commenced at 6.00 a.m., was held by Naba Nirman Krushak Sanghathan (NNKS) and passed off peacefully with no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the state.
The police tightened security in different parts of Bhubaneswar, including at government offices and educational institutions.
The bandh was supported by the opposition Congress. The first year college student reportedly died by suicide on July 2. Her body was found hanging in her hostel room.
A purported suicide note said that she took the extreme step after failing to cope with the ragging by three senior students. She did not, however, mention any names.
The Bhubaneswar police after an investigation said that it has not found any link of ragging with the death, but the girl’s parents and several student organizations alleged police inaction in identifying the abettors who prompted her to commit suicide.
The police took into custody a group of agitators who were picketing in front of the official residence of V K Pandian, the private secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
It also picked up several youth and student activists of NNKS, including its state convenor Akshya Kumar.
With the Odisha assembly in session, security had been tightened around the secretariat as well as the state legislative Assembly for Odisha Bandh. Bhubaneswar deputy commissioner of police Prateek Singh said the bandh did not impact life in the capital city.
Vehicular traffic and rail movements were normal in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and other district headquarters, police said.
The bandh supporters blocked roads in Bhadrak and Cuttack districts and were removed by the police from the agitation sites, the police said.
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