Unrest over KIIT University girl student’s death: ‘They tried to hide facts so bad that it exploded’

Students at KIIT University staged a silent protest on Tuesday in the scorching heat, raising concerns over the allegedly inhuman way of handling of the unrest triggered by the suspicious death of a Nepali student in the varsity hostel.

According to sources, these international students were compelled to vacate their hostel following incidents of physical assault. Allegedly, the Nepali students were beaten by the university staff as well as security personnel.

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The affected students have claimed that their mobile phones and laptops were forcibly snatched away during the alleged altercation.

Protesters have specifically accused hostel wardens Jayanti Nath and Manjusa Pande of misconduct, demanding a public apology.

In addition to these allegations, the students are calling for a transparent investigation into an incident involving the suspicious death of the Nepali student. There are also accusations that the university administration is attempting to obscure the fatal incident's details, with questions raised over the absence of a timely police call.

The protestors revealed that Nepali students returning to the hostel are being required to provide an undertaking to KIIT authorities.

Serious concerns have been raised regarding the death of the Nepali student, with complaints of mental harassment that were allegedly ignored. The protesters believe there have been efforts to suppress the facts surrounding the situation.

“During the first protest, there was a lot of chaos, and after that, people (students) were left in the stations (Cuttack railway station) and the students were called back. We have been given information like: we got to see a notice that someone has been terminated. However, we do not know the (terminated person’s) name,” an agitating girl student of KIIT University said to mediapersons.

“In a manner, the students (victims) were abusively told against Nepal by wardens Manjusa Pande and Jayanti Nath, we want a public apology from them, particularly, saying ‘sorry’ to the girl students and what was said was inappropriate,” the agitator expressed.

“Our demand right now and right here is we want a public apology from wardens Manjusa Pande and Jayanti Nath for the derogatory comments that they have made towards Nepali citizens, the country’s GDP and budget, and the students over here,” another protesting male student of KIIT stated.

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“Generally, neither university is against us nor we are against the university. But, whenever it comes to image (the varsity’s) and when any such (suspicious death) incident occurs, and we demand a probe into it and wish it to be transparent, and seek information, the university never supports us, they try to hide the facts,” the male student alleged.

“The same thing happened yesterday. They were trying to hide it (the facts) so bad that it exploded,” the male protestor added.
The university did not respond to the accusations.