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Show cause notice sent to KIIT over suicides
UGC issues notice to KIIT over student suicides, citing mental health failures and safety lapses. KIIT must respond in 7 days or face consequences.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Monday issued a show cause notice to Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Bhubaneswar in connection with two consecutive student suicides on February 16 and May 1. The higher education regulator in its notice sent through email said that the suicide incidents have raised “serious concerns regarding the mental health support system, safety protocols, and administrative response mechanisms prevailing” in institution.
The commission has directed KIIT to respond within seven days, explaining why disciplinary or legal action should not be initiated against the institute.
This comes after a fact-finding committee constituted by UGC to investigate suicide incidents, in its report submitted on May 21 to the commission, identified “critical lapses that contributed to the escalation of events.” The panel held KIIT officials accountable for “unlawful actions” and “criminal acts” contributing to the incidents, recommending their “criminal punishment in accordance with the law.”
On February 16, Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year BTech student from Nepal, was found dead in her hostel room at KIIT Bhubaneswar. She allegedly faced harassment and blackmail from her ex-boyfriend, Advik Srivastava, who was arrested for abetment of suicide. The panel report stated, “Had KIIT University taken action to address the reported harassment case as per law in the first instance, the tragedy could have been avoided.” The four-members panel in its report stated that in the first incident university “failed to take lawful decision in the already registered sexual harassment complaint twice” and “This unlawful action of the university has led to suicide later on,” it said.
Following the incident, 700-800 Nepali students held a protest at the campus. On February 17, KIIT declared “sine die,” evicting Nepali students from hostels, but reversed the order that evening without police notification, causing chaos. The mishandling of protests and evacuations gained international attention. “The decisions of sine die and subsequent forceful eviction of foreign students was so serious that embassies of both the countries have intervened to resolve the issue,” the panel said in its report. The panel stated that KIIT prioritised its “reputation of university over regulations, law of land and international relations of the country.”
On May 2, another Nepalese undergraduate student, Prisha Sah, was found dead in her hostel room at the institute. “The second case was an isolated event, but institutional deficiencies remained in psychological support and crisis handling,” the report said, adding that it was “unexpected.”
The panel said that senior administrative personnel of the university are “liable for criminal punishment as per law” for failing to take lawful action in reported sexual harassment cases.
The panel found that KIIT admitted foreign (particularly Nepalese) students directly through their Delhi office and informed about them to local police authorities after their admission. “There were no institutional protocols for orientation, cultural integration, or crisis support. They referred to a bilateral treaty of the Government of India. They could not show that Treaty,” the panel observed.
The panel also found that hostel facilities at the institute were “substandard.” “Three Students are put in a small room….International students, including female Nepalese students, were assigned rooms with Indian students without attention to their cultural sensitivities. This has also raised safety and comfort concerns,” the panel found.
Around 1400 students from Nepal are studying in KIIT Bhubaneswar. There are more than 30,000 on campus and “The existing hostels, classrooms and welfare services are inadequate to accommodate the current intake.”
The panel has suggested the UGC to issue stricter directives for the suicides of two Nepalese students at KIIT, enforce guidelines, and conduct audits within six months. KIIT’s actions should be reviewed via a physical revisit after six months, the panel said.
The UGC in its email has warned that if KIIT Bhubaneswar fails to respond to the show-cause notice within seven days, it may face disciplinary actions, including a public warning, a three-year ban on expanding courses, programs, departments, or campuses, or closure of existing ones. In severe cases, the institute’s deemed university status could be revoked, the commission warned.
“This matter is being treated with the utmost seriousness given its sensitive and tragic nature,” said Monika, UGC deputy secretary in the notice.
