Bhubaneswar, Feb 18: The incident of a Nepali female student committing suicide in the private KIIT University here has seemingly been turned into an international issue and tarnished the image of Odisha.

The institute tried to suppress the matter and issued an eviction order for all Nepali students, only to worsen the situation. The university, however, revoked the order with the timely intervention of the State government. The university has opoened a dedicated control room 24×7 at its Campus 6 to facilitate the return of Nepali students to the KIIT campus. Additionally, it has issued a 24×7 helpline [+91 7847064550 & +91 7855029322] to provide support and guidance to students.

As soon as the matter came to light, the State government had asked the university not to evict any student. "Following the intervention of the state government, the private university authorities have revoked the order and appealed to the Nepali students to return to the campus and resume their studies," said Higher Education Minister of Odisha, Suryabanshi Suraj, yesterday.

The incident and the eventual furore had caught the attention of the Government of Nepal, which took the matter seriously and started diplomatic initiatives to ensure the safety and well-being of Nepali students. Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli intervened in the matter and sent two Embassy officials to counsel Nepali students affected in Odisha.

Calling the forceful eviction of students an unfortunate incident, the State government soon sent special buses of the state-owned Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) to the railway station in Cuttack and other places in order to bring back the Nepal-origin students 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 noted that the state government is taking all steps to ensure that the students don’t face any harassment by the university authorities in the future as well. He said that the state home department immediately swung into action after the incident came to notice and ensured the arrest of the accused.

Police have started an investigation into the case, seizing the accused's diary, laptop, mobile, etc. Police sources revealed that the accused student who originally belongs to Uttar Pradesh was on Monday arrested from the Bhubaneswar Airport while he was trying to flee the city.

As per reports, the deceased Prakriti, a student of B.Tech (Computer Science) of KIIT University, had ended her life on Sunday following a fight with her estranged boyfriend and the accused Advik Shrivastava, a student of B.Tech (Mechanical).

Later, students of Nepali origin staged a demonstration on Sunday night. The students continued protest by staging a road blockade at the private university on Monday morning. This enraged university authorities, who issued a sine die order asking the Nepali students to the campus immediately, left them in a precarious situation.

Some students were also forcefully taken to the railway station in Cuttack on university buses. Some videos also went viral showing university authorities allegedly engaging in verbal spats with Nepali students and asking them to leave the campus immediately.

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