Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Wednesday assured the Nepalese students of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) that peace and normalcy will be restored in the campus soon and urged them to return and resume studies even as those students expressed apprehension about their safety.
Majhi, who is at present in Rajasthan, spoke telephonically with officials from Nepal, Sanjeeb Das Sharma and Navin Raj Adhikari, who held a meeting with Odisha Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj along with Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja on the situation.
Following the intervention of the Centre and State governments, KIIT authorities have requested around 1,000 Nepalese students who were issued suspension notices by university authorities, to return to the campus.
The KIIT authorities have tendered an public apology also.
A CMO statement said that the chief minister also assured them that justice will be served in the case of the deceased KIIT student Prakriti Lamsal.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Dr Arzu Rana Deuba also spoke with Odisha Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj over the phone on the issue.
Taking to X, Odisha CMO stated that the Chief Minister has also assured that peace and normalcy would be restored on the KIIT campus.
“The CM urged Nepali students to return to campus and resume their studies…,” it said.
Earlier, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, in an X post on Monday, had said, “Our Embassy in New Delhi has dispatched two officers to counsel Nepali students affected in Odisha. Additionally, arrangements have been made to ensure they have the option to either remain in the hostel or return home, based on their preference. #Nepal #Odisha.”
Nepalese students of KIIT alleged they encountered 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.
But the harrowing experiences encountered by the Nepalese students, including being shunted out of the campus and left at Cuttack railway station and alleged incidents of being roughed up, have left them scarred and many are fearful to return, the students said.
“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.
Narrating the harrowing experience encountered on Monday, Preeti said, “We were forcibly taken on a bus and dropped at a place near the railway station where there was no shop or water. What was our fault? Now they (dean and other officials of KIIT) are affectionately asking us to return. Can anyone believe them?”
Five KIIT employees, including directors of the institute, were arrested on Tuesday for harassing the Nepalese students but the Judicial Magistrate First Class-2 court later in the evening granted them bail.
A 21-year-old KIIT student was earlier arrested on charges of abetting the woman’s suicide.
Sources said the body of the deceased will be flown to Nepal during the day. Her father Sunil Lamsal and other family members have been camping in the city for the last two days.
Odisha’s Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj had earlier said that 100 Nepalese students are currently on the campus and nearly 800 are in other places.
“They might have gone to Kolkata, Patna or Ranchi. It is the responsibility of the KIIT authorities to bring them back. They are our guests,” the minister said.
However, neither the state government nor the KIIT authorities shared information about the number of students who have returned to the campus so far.
The Odisha government had on Tuesday released the action taken report in connection with the alleged crackdown on students following the unnatural death of the student.
It has formed a high-level committee headed by the additional chief secretary, home, to probe into the circumstances of the alleged suicide and the shunting of Nepalese students out of the campus by the varsity authorities.
Meanwhile, several students, youths and political organisations continued their agitation outside the campus over the incident.
Taking to X, KIIT stated, “Deeply mourning the untimely passing of our beloved student, Prakriti Lamsal. Today, all senior functionaries of KIIT gathered to express our heartfelt condolences and stand in solidarity with her family, friends, and the student community. We are committed to ensuring justice and support for all. May her soul rest in peace.”
