<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The furore over the suicide of a third-year student of KIIT University and the subsequent action against protesting students hailing from Nepal, refused to die down, with the Odisha government promising strict action and the Opposition BJD vowing to raise the issue in the Assembly on Thursday.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Skill Development and Technical Education Minister of Odisha, Sampad Chandra Swain on Thursday said that stringent action would be taken against those responsible for the unfortunate incident at KIIT University.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&ldquo;Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has appealed to the Nepali students to return to the institution and bring normalcy to the campus. The behaviour shown towards the students was very shameful,&rdquo; said Swain.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">He further added that the authorities of the private university should have been more empathetic towards the protesting students.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The minister further added that there is a solution to every problem.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Swain said that the arbitrary actions of KIIT authorities were completely unacceptable and to investigate the matter, a high-level committee had been formed by the Odisha government.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj, Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling and Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja also held a discussion with the counsellors of Nepal over the unfortunate incident.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&ldquo;The government has taken the issue seriously and strict action will be taken against those responsible for this. The government will take steps so that such incidents don&rsquo;t occur again in future,&rdquo; said Swain.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On the other hand, the Opposition parties continued to attack the BJP government, holding the deteriorating law and order situation in the state responsible for the issue.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Speaking on the KIIT University incident, BJD MLA Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo termed the suicide of a Nepali student Prakriti Lamsal, due to constant harassment by her ex-boyfriend, as a shocking and unfortunate incident.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&ldquo;What is more shocking is that some low-level authorities from the institution asked all Nepali students to leave the campus. This is of course regrettable. It has become an international issue now. It has not only brought embarrassment to the institution but the state of Odisha and India,&rdquo; noted Singh Deo.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">He said that the incident snowballed into a major controversy due to the failure of the current Odisha government and police that failed to act in time.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">BJD leaders noted that Nepali girl students in their statements given to local TV channels have alleged that the local police got into their hostel rooms, snatched their phones and forcibly asked them to leave the campus.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">He said that the BJD will raise the issue and the collapsing law and order situation in the Odisha Assembly.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Various students&rsquo; organizations on Thursday continued holding protests demanding an enquiry into the suicide of Prakriti and assault on other Nepali students by KIIT University authorities in Bhubaneswar.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year BTech (Computer Science) student of the KIIT University ended her life on Sunday following constant harassment by her estranged boyfriend Advik Shrivastava, a student of BTech (Mechanical).</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">According to reports, Shrivastava comes from a well-connected family and he allegedly physically and mentally harassed Prakriti. There is even mention of an audio recording in which he can be heard hurling abuses at her while she sobs in the background.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Police arrested the accused from Bhubaneswar Airport while he was trying to flee the city on Monday.</span></div>
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<div><em><strong><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&mdash;IANS</span></strong></em></div>

Nepali students protest Prakriti's death at the Nepal Embassy in Kathmandu (Source: X)

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February 20, 2025 | 19:24 IST