BHUBANESWAR, Feb 19: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday urged Nepalese students of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) to return to the campus here and resume studies, assuring them that peace and normalcy will be restored soon.
Around 1,000 Nepalese students of KIIT were issued suspension notices and asked to leave the campus immediately by the institute’s authorities on Monday following protests after the body of a student hailing from the neighbouring country, Prakriti Lamsal, was found hanging from the ceiling of her hostel room on Sunday.
However, 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.
Majhi, who is currently in Rajasthan, spoke over the phone with officials from Nepal“The chief minister also assured them that justice will be served in the case of the deceased KIIT student, Prakriti Lamsal,” a CMO statement said.
Besides, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Dr Arzu Rana Deuba also spoke with Odisha Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj over the phone on the issue.
Nepalese students on Wednesday expressed fear about returning to the campus here after events that took place following the alleged suicide of a 20-year-old student from the Himalayan nation.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?” (PTI)
