Road accident victim consumes poison in suicide bid, makes video alleging official negligence in Odisha’s Balasore

Balasore: Alleging medical negligence and administrative apathy towards his plight, a road accident victim consumed poison in an alleged suicide bid and even made a video of his act in Balasore district of Odisha today.

The youth, identified as Bijay Jena of Barunsingh area,  resorted to this drastic measure as a last resort to end his sufferings as he reportedly received no help from neither the State government nor the district administration even after multiple appeals for the last four years.

Sources said Bijay was suffering from Paraplegia (inability to voluntarily move lower parts of the body) after he injured his spine in a road accident in 2018. As he could not afford medical treatment due to acute poverty, he managed with bare minimum help initially from some of his acquantainces in the village which was only upto a point. Since then, he has been knocking the doors of the district administration  and the State government for assistance  but no help has come his way in the last four years including housing assistance.

As his suffering mounted, he had even taken to micro-blogging platform Twitter in August and pleaded for euthanasia while tagging the President and the Prime Minister in his tweet. On Friday, he went to a pesticide shop, bought poison and consumed it in a bid to end his life. He also made a video of the entire act and circulated it among his friends. As family members got to know, they rushed him to the nearest hospital in Balasore. His condition is currently critical, sources said.