Following the controversy over the suicide of a Nepali female student and the eviction notices to Nepali students, Odisha's Higher Education Minister, Suryabanshi Suraj, declared on Monday that the private university had changed its mind after intervention by the state government.
The university officials have now invited the Nepali students to come back to campus and resume their studies.
The event and the subsequent outcry saw attention from the Nepal government, and they took serious note of the situation and initiated diplomatic efforts to secure the safety and welfare of Nepali students.
"Our Embassy in New Delhi has dispatched two officers to counsel Nepali students affected in Odisha. Additionally, arrangements have been made to ensure they have the option to either remain in their hostel or return home, based on their preference,” said Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli.
Conversely, terming the forced eviction of students as a sad incident, Suraj told the media that the Odisha government had taken special steps through the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC). Special buses were sent to the Cuttack railway station and other places to bring back the Nepali-origin students safely to the university in Bhubaneswar.
“India has a deep relationship with Nepal. Odisha too has a long-standing relationship with Nepal through Lord Jagannath. Whatever occurred in Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) is very tragic, and we are expressing our condolences to the bereaved family of the deceased student,” said Suraj.
The minister also asserted that the state government is taking all the steps required to ensure no students are harassed by university authorities in the future.
He also added that the state home department was quick to move once the issue was brought into the limelight, ensuring the arrest of the accused.
The police have launched a probe into the case, and have confiscated the accused's diary, computer, phone, and other materials.
As per police sources, the accused, a student who hails from Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Monday at the Bhubaneswar Airport while trying to leave the city.
"There was an unfortunate incident which took place late in the evening yesterday on the KIIT campus. Immediately after the incident, police investigated the matter and apprehended the culprit. The KIIT administration has taken all-out efforts to restore normalcy in the campus and hostels to resume academic activities. An appeal is made to all our Nepali students who have or plan to leave the campus to return and resume classes,” said KIIT University.
According to the reports, the victim, Prakriti, a B.Tech student in Computer Science at KIIT University, suicided on Sunday following a fight with her estranged boyfriend, Advik Shrivastava, a B.Tech student in Mechanical and the accused.
After the incident, Nepali-origin students conducted a protest on Sunday evening. The police attempted to pacify the protesting students, but the protest went on, and the students cut off roads at the private university on Monday morning.
This provoked outrage among the university administration, and a sine die order was passed, ordering the immediate exit of Nepali students from the campus, leaving them in a state of jeopardy.
A few students were dragged to the railway station at Cuttack on university buses. There were viral videos of university administrators reportedly engaging in verbal duels with Nepali students and asking them to exit the campus at once.
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