Indian PhD couple awarded $200,000 after microwaving palak paneer at US university
An Indian student at the University of Colorado Boulder and his partner have been awarded 200,000 after a staff member objected to the “smell” of palak paneer.
An Indian student at the University of Colorado Boulder and his partner have been awarded 200,000 after a staff member objected to the “smell” of Indian food being heated in a shared microwave. Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacheryya claim that the episode triggered a pattern of discriminatory treatment and retaliation by the university.
In September 2025, the university agreed to pay the couple $200,000 and confer Master’s degrees, while barring them from future enrolment or employment, even as it denied any liability in the matter.
HT.com has reached out to the couple. This copy will be updated on receiving a response.
It started with palak paneer
The events leading up to the $200,000 settlement started on September 5, 2023, when Aditya Prakash was heating his lunch of palak paneer at a microwave in the University of Colorado Boulder. Prakash, now 34, had joined the University of Colorado Boulder’s Anthropology Department a year earlier to pursue a PhD.
While the palak paneer was being heated up, a staff member walked up to the PhD student and complained about the smell of his lunch. According to an Indian Express report, she told Prakash that his food smelled pungent and asked him not to use the microwave.
Prakash stood his ground. “It’s just food. I’m heating and leaving,” he told the staff member, polite but firm.
‘Systemic racism’ follows
{{/usCountry}}Prakash stood his ground. “It’s just food. I’m heating and leaving,” he told the staff member, polite but firm.
‘Systemic racism’ follows
{{/usCountry}}Aditya Prakash and his partner Urmi Bhattacheryya claim they began to face frequent harassment by the university following the palak paneer incident.
{{/usCountry}}Aditya Prakash and his partner Urmi Bhattacheryya claim they began to face frequent harassment by the university following the palak paneer incident.
{{/usCountry}}Prakash alleges that in the days following the September 2023 incident, he was repeatedly summoned to meetings with senior faculty. He was also accused of making staff “feel unsafe” and complaints were filed against him with the Office of Student Conduct.
{{/usCountry}}Prakash alleges that in the days following the September 2023 incident, he was repeatedly summoned to meetings with senior faculty. He was also accused of making staff “feel unsafe” and complaints were filed against him with the Office of Student Conduct.
{{/usCountry}}“The department also refused to grant us Master’s degrees that PhD students are awarded enroute the PhD. That’s when we decided to seek legal recourse,” Prakash said, speaking about the “systemic racism” they faced.
Bhattacheryya also targeted
{{/usCountry}}“The department also refused to grant us Master’s degrees that PhD students are awarded enroute the PhD. That’s when we decided to seek legal recourse,” Prakash said, speaking about the “systemic racism” they faced.
Bhattacheryya also targeted
{{/usCountry}}His partner Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder, faced similar instances of discrimination after the palak paneer episode. Two days after the incident, Bhattacheryya invited Prakash to a class on ethnocentrism to talk about his experience. Prakash did not name individuals or provide details during his talk, but Bhattacheryya claims that she, too, began to face racism.
Bhattacheryya, 35, says she lost her teaching assistant job without warning or explanation. Then, days later, when she and three other students brought Indian food to the campus, they were accused of inciting a riot.
Bhattacheryya said that what happened with them was influenced by the political climate around them in wake of Trump’s election. The racism was never outright.
“The message wasn’t always explicit, but it was there: you are here conditionally, and you can be made to feel that very quickly,” she said.
The lawsuit
In May 2025, Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacheryya filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado Boulder, alleging discrimination and retaliation.
In the lawsuit, filed before the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the couple said that after Prakash raised concerns about “discriminatory treatment,” the university “engaged in a pattern of escalating retaliation.”
Following the legal proceedings, the university settled with the couple in September 2025, paying them $200,000, conferring Master’s degrees, but barring them from future enrolment or employment.
By the time the settlement was reached, neither Prakash nor Bhattacheryya felt inclined to return to the US. “Going back would mean re-entering the same system, with the same visa precarity. I don’t see myself going back,” Prakash said.
Starting afresh in India, Prakash added, “If this case can send out a message that this (‘food racism’) cannot be practised with impunity, that we, as Indians, will fight back, that would be the real victory.”
In a statement to The Indian Express, university spokesperson Deborah Mendez-Wilson said: “The university reached an agreement with the plaintiffs and denies any liability. The university has established processes to address allegations of discrimination and harassment, and it adhered to those processes in this matter. CU Boulder remains committed to fostering an inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff.”
