The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) located in Bhubaneswar experienced significant protests on Monday after the purported suicide of a Nepalese student in the university hostel. Prakriti Lamsal, a student in her third year of B Tech, was discovered deceased in her hostel room on Sunday evening.
The students protesting, which included Nepali nationals, charged the university officials with being overbearing and concealing issues, claiming that Nepali students were unfairly ordered to leave the campus. They are calling for transparency in the inquiry.
Prakriti’s friends claimed that the harassment from her former boyfriend, named Advik Srivastava, pushed her to make the drastic choice. Her brother additionally lodged a police report, claiming the supposed harassment. He is in police detention and faces charges of aiding suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Numerous students assembled on campus, shouting phrases such as “We Demand Justice” and criticized the university administration for minimizing the event. Numerous images circulated online depicted students challenging university representatives.
In a video, a university official was allegedly heard yelling at the students, claiming, “We are providing food and education to over 40,000 students at no cost, which exceeds your nation’s budget.” India Today was unable to independently confirm this video.
With the protests intensifying, multiple police platoons were sent to the campus to uphold order.
KIIT in a statement said: “A Nepali student studying in the third year of B-Tech committed suicide in the hostel yesterday. It is suspected that the student was in a love affair with another student studying at KIIT. It is suspected that the student may have committed suicide due to some reason.”
The authorities declared that the university was shut down for all international students from Nepal and ordered them to leave the campus without delay.
Nevertheless, the students challenged the choice to “forcibly relocate” them, contending that it was unfair to require them to organize travel on such limited notice.
On Monday, a group of Nepali students arrived at Cuttack Railway Station via two buses. “A student mentioned, ‘We were instructed to leave our hostel rooms and were taken to the station.'” Nevertheless, students from different states claimed that university security personnel had prevented them from exiting their dormitories.
