As many as 159 students of KIIT have returned to Nepal: official

Days after a Nepalese female student allegedly died by suicide at the Kalinga Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) in Odisha and the college administration ordered Nepalese students to vacate the hostel, 159 students have returned to the country via the Raxaul border point, an official has said, though the order to vacate was withdrawn later.

Assistant chief district officer of Parsa, Suman Kumar Karki, said 159 Nepali students arrived home from the Raxaul border point until Thursday evening.

Prakriti Lamsal (20) a third-year BTech (Computer Science) student at KIIT, allegedly died by suicide at her hostel room on 16 February, leading to unrest on the campus. There are roughly 1,000 Nepalese students studying in KIIT.

On Thursday, Nepal's foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba said the government had resolved the issue arising out of the death of the Nepalese student through diplomatic channels.

Deuba, addressing the media at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport upon her arrival from Oman, where she had gone to attend the 8th Indian Ocean Summit, said, “The Nepal government has resolved the problem surrounding the death of a Nepali student in KIIT Odisha through diplomatic channels by handling the situation seriously.”

The foreign minister also said she had spoken to Odisha higher education minister Suryabanshi Suraj regarding the matter and ensured that an impartial investigation is conducted into the death of the student, and a safe environment is created for Nepalese students to return to their hostels and resume classes.

After the initiative taken by the Nepal foreign ministry, the Odisha government had taken the issue seriously and a high-level investigation committee had also been formed, she said. “After our response, the college has apologised for the incident and taken action against its staff who misbehaved with Nepalese students,” she said.

Incidentally, Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli was among the first to escalate the issue as news of the death and the possible reasons behind it began to emerge. Thrown into the mix were the marching orders to the protesting Nepalese students, most of whom had nowhere to go. On Wednesday, police arrested a 21-year-old student from Bhubaneswar airport on suspicion of blackmailing and harassing the deceased student.

Meanwhile, a candlelight march demanding justice for Prakriti Lamsal was organised at Birgunj of Parsa district on Thursday evening. Similarly, a group of students organised a protest rally in Bhairahawa of Rupandehi, the home district of the deceased student, asking for justice.

With PTI inputs