Inspector of schools gets life term

District and Session Judge, Rayagada, Janab Mohammed Ajmal held Netrananda Dandasena guilty under sections 109, 302 and 120 (B) of IPC. 

The verdict was delivered on the basis of the charge sheet filed by the Crime Branch of Police in the sensational killing of Itishree Pradhan, a woman teacher working at Tikiri in Rayagada district. 

Pradhan was set ablaze after kerosene was poured on her on the school premises, where she was staying in a room, on October 27, 2013. She succumbed to burn injuries while undergoing treatment in Vizag on November 1, 2013. Considering the sensitivity of the matter, the state government had ordered a crime branch probe into the death on November 2, 2013 following an uproar over the issue. 

“Dandasana was the lone accused in the incident. We had filed a charge sheet against him based on the dying statement of the teacher,” Special Director General (crime), BK Sharma told reporters in Cuttack. 

Itishree from Puri district was working as a teacher in an upper primary school at Tikiri when she was allegedly subjected to sexual harassment by the inspector of schools. 

Though she had brought it to the notice of the district administration, district police, district education officer and even the state government to transfer her in view of the alleged incident, none came to her rescue.