India, July 15 -- The tragic death of Odisha student who set herself on fire over alleged inaction on her sexual harassment complaints against a professor has snowballed into a political slugfest. Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and the Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan traded charges on Tuesday on what led to the unfortunate incident and how it is allegedly being used for political gains.

Rahul Gandhi blamed the death on "BJP's system" which, he said, "continued to shield the accused". Dharmendra Pradhan, in response, accused Gandhi of using the incident to play "cheap politics".

The 20-year-old student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Odisha's Balasore, who had attempted self-immolation,...