Nepali Student’s Suicide at KIIT Campus Exposed a Culture of Goons and Harassment

The sad shadow Prakriti Lamsal, a 20-year-old Nepali student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar, passed recently has thrown over the campus. This episode started demonstrations and exposed a general culture of harassment and intimidation inside the university. Though anti-ragging rules exist, many events have been documented, usually under cover of political pressures that encourage silence and fear. The way the government has responded to student demonstrations has been characterized by threats of expulsion, therefore silencing voices advocating justice. Official comments on social media sites have shown a resistance to admit institutional responsibility, presenting a picture of an institution in which the search of safety and education is subordinated to power relations.