Bhubaneswar: Describing the deceased engineering student as a “daughter of Odisha,” the state government Wednesday assured Nepal that justice would be done to the victim and other students allegedly tortured by the staff of a private institution here.
The assurance was given by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to the visiting embassy officials who came here following the direction of Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.
The Nepal PM had reacted to the alleged abuse of Nepalese students at Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and sent two officials from the embassy in New Delhi for discussion with the state government and students.
Though Majhi was on a tour to another state, he spoke over the phone with officials from Nepal, Sanjeeb Das Sharma and Navin Raj Adhikari, who held a meeting with Odisha’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj, along with Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja at the State Guest House here during the day.
“The chief minister assured the embassy officials that justice will be served in the case of deceased KIIT student Prakriti Lamsal,” a CMO statement said.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Dr Arzu Rana Deuba also spoke with Odisha’s Higher Education Minister over the phone on the issue.
Suraj said that the Odisha government apprised the Nepalese officials of the measures taken by the state government, and they appreciated them.
The state has formed a high-level committee to probe into the circumstances under which the girl took her life and the alleged mistreatment of Nepalese students.
“We told the visiting Nepalese embassy officials that Prakriti is also a daughter of Odisha and justice would be done to her and other students from the Himalayan nation who have allegedly been beaten up by KIIT staff. We will ensure the safety of the students,” Suraj told reporters, adding that the state government has opened a helpdesk (WhatsApp 9124620605) to address the issue of Nepalese students.
The unrest on the KIIT campus began Sunday after 20-year-old Prakriti allegedly committed suicide by hanging after being mentally and verbally abused by another student, who has been arrested.
KIIT, a private institution with a student capacity of about 40,000, has nearly 2,000 international students from 65 countries, and Nepalese constitute about 50 per cent of the foreign pupils.
Around 1,000 Nepalese students of KIIT were issued suspension notices and asked to leave the campus immediately by the institute’s authorities Monday following protests after the girl’s death.
Following the intervention of the Centre and the state government, the KIIT authorities tendered an apology and requested the Nepalese students to return to the campus.
However, the students who have faced the ire of the KIIT staff fear returning to the institute despite a series of appeals and request phone calls.
The Youth Congress has served a notice to the state government to arrest KIIT founder Achyut Samanta within 24 hours or they will start an agitation.
The Nepalese students, however, expressed reluctance to return to the institute after encountering harrowing experiences following the protests over the unnatural death of the student, including being shunted out of the campus and left at Cuttack railway station, besides being roughed up, leaving many of them scarred and fearful of returning to the campus.
The high-level committee, headed by additional chief secretary Satyabrata Sahu, Wednesday visited the KIIT campus and held discussions with a section of students and officials.
“This is our first spot visit. We will submit our report to the government after verifying different angles,” Sahu told reporters.
Suraj said appropriate legal and administrative action will follow based on the findings of the high-level committee.
Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said, “Police are getting permission from the court to take the lone accused (also an engineering student) on remand for three days. We will further interrogate him and verify the allegation of harassment leading to the girl’s suicide.”
While palpable tension prevails on the campus, student organisations have been staging demonstrations across the state capital here demanding justice for the deceased girl.
Supporters of ABVP, AISF, NSUI, and Nav Nirman Chhatra Sangathan staged protests.
Though KIIT Tuesday had urged the students to return to campus, the Odisha government’s assurance is likely to be helpful, said a Nepalese student.
“We were forced to vacate the hostel without any fault of ours. The students from Nepal were agitated over the death of Prakriti as her previous pleadings with the authorities (over alleged blackmail by her former boyfriend) were ignored. She died by suicide out of frustration,” Preeti, a student from Nepal, told reporters.
PTI
