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KIIT Student Suicide: The college has suspended staff members for making xenophobic remarks towards students protesting on campus for justice after a student’s suicide allegedly linked to a “love affair”.
KIIT Student Suicide Row: The professor, who made xenophobic remark, has publicly apologised for hurting sentiments of Nepali people. (Screengrab)
KIIT Student Suicide: After a Nepali student from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar tragically ended her life, allegedly due to a strained relationship with a fellow student, the students from Nepal took to both online and offline protests. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) too joined them, demanding justice. The incident escalated into a diplomatic issue between India and Nepal. Amid the growing tensions, a video showing two university staff members engaging in a heated exchange with the students protesting on campus is all over social media platforms.
In the now-viral video, a professor, identified as Manjusha Pandey, can be heard saying to the students that the founder of the institution “feeds and educates 40,000 students for free”. Another staff member, identified as Jayanti Nath, adds that the money spent on students is equivalent to Nepal’s national budget. Their xenophobic remarks further fueled the already tense situation.
Following the backlash, KIIT suspended the staff members and issued an official apology to the students. The staffers also apologised, stating that their remarks were made in the “spur of the moment”.
KIIT, in its “letter of apology”, said: “We are extremely appalled by the untoward incident that took place in our campus on the evening of 16th February 2025. We are also regretful of the way some of us behaved with the agitating students. We love our students and had never done any disservice to them. The comments made by two of our officers are extremely irresponsible. Although the comments are made on their personal capacity on the spur of the moment, we do not support their action.”
“We have removed them from service. They too have apologised for their behaviour. We too apologise for all that has happened and hereby tender our love and affection to all students and people of Nepal,” the deemed-to-be university further added.
The statement further urged students from Nepal to resume classes with immediate effect, stating that they “love them as much as they love the people of India and the people of the world”.
Letter of Apology from the Vice-Chancellor, KIIT-DUKIIT has always been a home to students from across the world, fostering a culture of inclusivity, respect, and care. We deeply regret the recent incident and reaffirm our commitment to the safety, dignity, and well-being of… pic.twitter.com/mJb1Zo9jGj
— KIIT – Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (@KIITUniversity) February 18, 2025
Pandey, who was a professor at KIIT, issued an apology for “hurting the sentiments of the students, brothers and sisters of Nepal”.
In a video statement, she said, “I am making this video to apologise for the statements I said on 16th night in the spur of the moment. I want to communicate that whatever statements I had done, I said, are mine and have nothing to do with any of the authority of KIIT University. And if any of my statements has hurted the sentiment of my Nepali students, or people of Nepal, I apologise for it sincerely [sic].”
Jayanti Nath, former Joint Director of the Girls’ Hostel & Student Affairs, also apologised for her remarks.
“I want to take a moment to apologise for my recent remarks while handling the student protests that escalated beyond my control. My intention was never to offend or demean anyone and I deeply regret if my words caused unintended harm to the sentiments of anyone. I want to emphasise that my words do not reflect the views of the university or even the authorities,” said Nath in a video statement.
She added, “I am extremely sorry and apologetic for whatever has happened. However, it is important to convey that my words were a direct response to statements made during protests where my country, and institution were concurrent on poor. In this heated exchange, my reply was meant to defend against those remarks, not to demean Nepal and its people in any way.”
She should be sacked immediately. Looks like she doesn’t know or mean to what she is reading.Sounds like a conditional apology. Not only she has bought shame to the brand name of the university also her rudimentary knowledge of handling such a situation showed she is incapable… pic.twitter.com/2TqU1l9TBi— Gayatri 🇬🇧🇮🇳(BharatKiBeti) (@changu311) February 18, 2025
The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police have arrested the accused, 21-year-old Advik Srivastava from Lucknow. The victim, 20-year-old Prakriti Lamsal from Nepal, took her own life by hanging herself. A case has been registered under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“We investigated the matter, and we got prima facie evidence that there was some sort of harassment which could have prompted the girl to die by suicide, so we arrested the accused person; we examined him, and today, he has been forwarded to judicial custody,” said Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh on Monday evening.
He further added that the police have seized the victim’s personal belongings, including her mobile phone, which will be sent for forensic examination.
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, in a Facebook post, said, “It has come to our attention through media and social media that a Nepali student has died in the hostel of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Odisha, India, and that Nepali students have been forcibly evicted from the hostel.”
He also announced that Nepal’s Embassy in New Delhi had dispatched two officers to provide support to affected Nepali students in Odisha. He assured that arrangements were being made to allow students to either stay in their hostel or return home, depending on their preference.
