Nepalese woman's death in KIIT: NHRC seeks action taken report from Odisha Government, UGC, NAAC

NHRC seeks action report from Odisha Government, UGC, and NAAC over gross negligence in Nepalese student's death at KIIT.

Finding gross negligence on the part of the authorities over the death of a 20-year-old B.Tech student from Nepal at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubanewar, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought an action taken report from the Odisha Government, UGC and NAAC within four weeks.

The NHRC, which had sent a team to KIIT to conduct an on-the-spot probe into the death of Computer Science student Prakriti Lamsal earlier this month, uploaded the case status on its website on March 27, 2025 and stated that the rights panel has sought the report from Odisha's Chief Secretary, Collector and district Magistrate of Khurda district, Commissioner of Police and chairpersons of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

Nepal human rights panel urges Indian counterpart to ensure justice for KIIT student

“During the visit, the NHRC team found that the deceased woman had lodged a complaint with KIIT’s International Relations Office (IRO) on March 12, 2024, months before taking the extreme step on February 16, 2025,” the Commission said. “She had named a male engineering student who had allegedly blackmailed her,” it said.

"It is evident that the conduct of the IRO and university officers/disciplinary committee and college authorities (is) sufficient to show that there was gross negligence and omission on their part – IRO and university authorities — which may (be) treated (as) amount to (an) act of abetment to suicide... which finally resulted in her suicide," the status report of the rights panel said.

The report also stated that the university officials have admitted to the fact that almost 1,000-1,100 students left their hostels on February 17, 2025 (a day after the girl's death) whereas almost 180 women students left their hostels in such haste that could have led to some other untoward incident but the college authorities did not bother about the safety of women students and they were thrown out of the campus.

"Regrettably, the university was unrepentant and even had the audacity to reply that there had been no merit in the allegations. This manifests sheer insensitivity, if not downright arrogance," it said. Keeping in view of the findings, the commission issued a direction to the Chief Secretary of Odisha and the Collector and district Magistrate of Khurda to submit an action taken report.