KIIT University.
Credit: kiit.ac.in
New Delhi: A committee by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said that the suicide of a Nepalese student in Bhubaneshwar’s Kalinga Institute of Technology was caused by the varsity’s “illegal and unlawful” activity which could have been averted and is entirely criminal in nature.
The UGC panel was constituted in May after a 20-year-old Nepalese student of the institute died by suicide. The incident followed the suicide of another Nepalese student, Prakriti Lamsal, of the same institute on February 16.
In strongly-worded findings, the report said the university failed to act lawfully following complaints of sexual harassment, in addition to bad living conditions in the hostels, intake of students beyond capacity, and the use of unnecessary force on students.
As per recommendations, it said that the varsity be stopped from expanding, and that action be taken on departmental officials. The UGC committee is chaired by Professor Nageshwar Rao and it submitted the report on May 20.
The committee has recommended criminal proceedings against members of the Internal Complaints Committee after it found that the ICC asked the complainant to “compromise” twice after she complained of sexual harassment.
The panel noted that it could have taken action against the perpetrator, but refused to do so leading to the girl’s demise in February. Her death was followed by the death of another student who, too, killed herself.
The committee further found that the administration “forcibly removed” Nepalese students without providing them any support, and that security personnel of the varsity used physical force to remove the students from the premises.