NEW DELHI, May 11: Despite the suspicious deaths of Nepali students Prisha Shah and Prakriti Lamsal at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, the Nepal government has failed to take a strong and visible stand.
After Prakriti Lamsal's death, the Indian Embassy in Nepal sent a team, including police counselors, to India for ten days. However, the team failed to reassure Nepali students or convey the Nepal government's support. In Prisha's case, government representatives did not even visit Odisha; they managed the situation remotely from New Delhi.
Even a week after Prisha's death, the Nepali Embassy in India has done little beyond contacting the university administration. Embassy officials have neither interacted with a single student at KIIT University nor made any effort to understand their concerns or offer support.
Students on the university campus said they did not know how to contact the embassy or whom to approach to raise their concerns. "Our university saw two suspicious deaths within three months, yet neither the Nepal government nor the Nepali Embassy reached out to speak with us or show any official presence. We feel deeply saddened," the students said.
During a counseling session organized by Bhubaneswar Police on Thursday afternoon, the students told Republica that the embassy's absence at the university left them feeling neglected and eroded their trust in the government. They added that no one from Nepal had contacted them and that the embassy had not asked the university administration about the situation of Nepali students.
Responding to the issue, SSP Sanjeev Singh Das, a counselor at the Nepali Embassy in India, said the embassy has remained in contact with the KIIT University administration.
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He said the embassy maintains regular contact with the Bhubaneswar police administration. "We stay in constant communication. In Prisha Shah's death case, both the local administration and the police have extended their cooperation," he said.
Indian educational institutions attract Nepali students by offering proximity, lower tuition fees compared to other countries, and easy accessibility. Nearly 1,300 Nepali students currently study at KIIT University alone.
Because Nepali students can enter India without a visa, they continue to choose the country for both school-level and higher education. Parents also favor sending their children to India due to the close linguistic, religious, and cultural ties between the two nations.
Recent events show that the long-established educational and people-to-people relations between Nepal and India are facing disruption. Additionally, the KIIT University administration's behavior towards Nepali students has worsened the situation, according to the students studying there.
Thousands of Nepali students studying in India face mistreatment, with some even enduring such conditions that lead to death, raising concerns among both parents and the students. In response, the KIIT administration has started counseling the students. However, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi has failed to make the students feel the presence of the government, whether through collaboration with KIIT University or on its own initiative.
More than half of the students at KIIT have not obtained No Objection Certificates (NOCs). Although Nepali students do not require an NOC to study in India, the need to send official payments for security and university fees has recently arisen, but the Nepal government has remained silent on the matter.
India has long offered scholarships to Nepali students across various fields. Scholarships in science, technology, agriculture, business, management, and humanities have made India an attractive destination for Nepali students. Besides scholarships, India has become a top choice for Nepali students seeking higher education, with more students paying fees to study there. This has also contributed to India's economy. However, in response to KIIT University's insensitivity, the government has not addressed the issue.
The students studying at KIIT said, "If an official from the Nepali Embassy had come to conduct counseling, the KIIT administration would have treated us differently." Republica requested the KIIT administration to arrange a meeting with the students. However, the administration hesitated, citing that all students had gone home after exams.
Students who contacted Republica shared that they could not speak out against the administration, as it had been extremely strict with them.
Three months ago, after Prakriti Lamsal's death, a security officer from the Nepali Embassy visited KIIT to coordinate and understand the situation. However, the students were not well-informed about Prisha's death. After Prakriti's death, the students faced mental harassment and "blackmail."
The KIIT administration is attempting to generalize Prisha's death as a suicide. On Thursday, Dr. Suresh Dev Datta Singh, the Police Commissioner of Bhubaneswar, stated that the investigation into the crime would soon conclude.
"In a crime investigation, there are no borders between Nepal and India and no discrimination between foreign and domestic citizens. I want to assure Nepali parents that the police will conduct a thorough investigation into Prisha Shah's death," he said. "A criminal remains a criminal, regardless of where they come from. No one will prevent bringing them under legal jurisdiction."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has only issued a few reminders regarding Prisha Shah's death. The Ministry and the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi have released statements about the KIIT University incident, urging Nepali students to arrange accommodations in the university's hostel, fulfilling only formalities.
