Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has launched an investigation into the death of Prakriti Lamsal, a 20-year-old Nepalese student at KIIT University in Bhubaneswar. The inquiry team, led by Joginder Singh, Registrar (Law), began questioning officials and students on Thursday.
The probe team also focused on alleged attacks on Nepalese students by university staff.
According to reports, the team questioned several officials and students for around five hours. classmates and hostel mates of the deceased student faced the NHRC panel. Similarly, the team also interrogated the university’s functionaries like former staff members Manjusa Pandey, Jayanti Nath and the hostel warden.
Later in the day, Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh and Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena met the NHRC team. Police provided all relevant documents sought by the NHRC team. The Commissioner stated that the Commissionerate Police would cooperate with the NHRC team in the investigation. The team is likely to visit KIIT again tomorrow for further investigation.
Lamsal, a third-year Computer Science student, was found dead in her hostel room on February 16, with allegations suggesting she died by suicide after facing harassment from an engineering student. The victim had reported the harassment to the university’s International Relations Office, but failed to receive justice.
The NHRC inquiry follows a complaint filed by Ashutosh B, a resident of Bhubaneswar, and a letter from Nepal’s rights panel. The commission has directed the inquiry team to submit their findings by March 10.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage, with allegations of Nepalese students being verbally abused, threatened, and assaulted by university officials and security guards. Ten KIIT officials have been arrested for assaulting Nepalese students, with five still in jail. The state government has also formed a three-member committee to investigate the matter.
