The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar saw massive protests on Monday following the alleged suicide of a student from Nepal inside the university hostel. Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year B Tech student, was found dead in her hostel room on Sunday evening.
The protesting students, including Nepali nationals, accused the university authorities of high-handedness and cover-up and alleged that Nepali students had been arbitrarily directed to vacate the campus. They are demanding transparency in the investigation.
Prakriti's friends alleged that harassment by her ex-boyfriend, identified as Advik Srivastava, drove her to take the extreme step. Her brother also filed a police complaint, citing the alleged harassment. He is in police custody and has been charged with abetment of suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Hundreds of students gathered on campus, chanting slogans like "We Want Justice", and accused the university administration of downplaying the incident. Several visuals shared online showed students confronting university officials.
In one of the videos, two university officials were purportedly heard shouting at the students. “We are feeding and teaching over 40,000 students for free," a woman said. "That is more than your country’s budget," shouted another. Jaano Junction could not independently verify this video.
As the protests escalated, several platoons of police were deployed on campus to maintain 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 also announced that the university was closed to all international students from Nepal and directed them to vacate the campus. However, the students questioned the decision to "forcefully remove" them, arguing that it was unreasonable to expect them to arrange travel on such short notice.
"The university authorities are forcibly evicting us. For the past month, we have been complaining about the indiscipline on campus, but no one responded. How can we travel to Nepal in a single day without tickets?" a student told India Today over a phone call.
Meanwhile, the police said that tensions in the victim’s relationship with her boyfriend could have led her to take the extreme step.
"The student was in a relationship with a boy from the same university, and she may have committed suicide because of issues in their relationship. According to her roommate, the deceased had an argument with her boyfriend in the morning, which could have been a triggering factor," a senior police officer said.
On Monday, several Nepali students were dropped off at Cuttack Railway Station on two buses. "We were told to vacate our hostel rooms and were dropped at the station," a student said. However, students from other states alleged that university security guards had restricted them from leaving their hostels.
Source: ANI