February 22nd 2025.
The Odisha government made a strong statement on Saturday, declaring that those responsible for the tragic death of a Nepalese student at KIIT, a private engineering institute, and the subsequent assault on other students from Nepal, would not escape punishment. The incident had sparked widespread outrage, with Congress activists demanding the immediate arrest of KIIT's founder Achyuta Samanta. In a show of protest, a large group of youth and student activists from the party gathered in front of the institute's main gate, burning an effigy of Samanta.
The situation soon escalated into a scuffle between the security personnel and the agitators, as the Congress workers attempted to enter the KIIT campus. This demonstration came just a day after the party's MLAs had demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of the 20-year-old Nepalese student, as well as the reported attack on other students from Nepal. In response, Odisha's Higher Education Minister, Suryabanshi Suraj, assured that the government was dedicated to taking strict action in the matter. He also mentioned that a high-level committee was currently investigating the incidents, and that eight top officials of KIIT, including its founder, had already provided their statements to the committee.
Minister Suraj also informed that the police were conducting their own investigation, and had already arrested 10 individuals, including bouncers, security guards, and other staff members of the institute. He added that the police had obtained significant evidence from the CCTV footage, which had aided in the arrests. Regarding the death of the female student, the minister revealed that one person had been arrested for abetment to suicide, and the police were looking into his possible involvement in the harassment of the student. To gather more evidence, the police had also sent a viral audio clip for a voice spectrograph test to confirm its authenticity. If found to be true, the accused would also face charges under the IT Act.
At a press conference on Saturday, senior Congress leader and former Odisha chief secretary, Bijay Patnaik, denounced the incidents at KIIT, calling them a result of "racial discrimination" among the students. He alleged that the Nepalese students were unfairly targeted and evicted from the campus, with the institute's staff members using derogatory language against Nepal, which is a close ally of India. Patnaik also questioned the silence of the University Grants Commission and the central government, and demanded that KIIT be issued a show cause notice, threatening to withdraw its status as a deemed university if the institute failed to provide a satisfactory explanation.
Expressing concern over the damage these incidents had caused to the state's reputation, Patnaik suggested that the governor's house should establish a special cell to address complaints from foreign students. He also pointed out that the founder of KIIT was a member of the BJD party, and had enjoyed the previous government's support. However, with a new BJP government in power, Patnaik believed that this incident would serve as a test for the new administration to prove that they were different from their predecessors.
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