E-Paper
Odisha man tries to set daughter ablaze over low Class 10 grades
Satrujit Mohanty of Jamudiha village in Balasore thrashed his daughter and tried to set her on fire after she told him she expected poor marks in her class 10 board exams.
A day before the results of the Class 10 board examination of Odisha were declared, a man in coastal Balasore district was detained over allegations that he attempted to set afire his daughter over apprehensions of her getting poor grades.
Police said that on Sunday evening, Satrujit Mohanty of Jamudiha village in Balasore’s Nilagiri block, about 200 km northeast of the state capital, asked his daughter about the grades she was expecting. He became furious when the girl reportedly said she expected poor marks in a couple of papers. He then started thrashing her and then locked her up in a room and tried to set her afire.
Nilagiri police station officials said they managed to rescue the girl after alert neighbours tipped them off. “We are interrogating the man and would take further action,” said a police official who did not wish to be named.
Like previous year, this year too girls outshone boys in the exam. While 2.22 lakh girls passed, the number was 2.16 lakh for boys. This year the pass percentage fell about 10 % to 76.23%. Odisha school and mass education secretary PK Mohapatra attributed the lower pass percentage to better supervision during exam and new practice of not allowing the students to appear for the exams in their own schools.
