Eleven months before a 20-year-old student from Nepal died by suicide at the KIIT campus in Bhubaneswar in February, she had filed a “sexual harassment” complaint with the university authorities, Odisha’s higher education minister Suryavasnhi Suraj said on Friday.
In a written reply to the state assembly to a query from Congress MLA Dasarathi Gamango, the higher education minister said as per the information received from KIIT, the woman had filed the harassment complaint on March 12, 2024.
“The high-level committee formed by the state government has been probing the matter in detail. The university has stated that they have formed an internal committee as per UGC guidelines,” the minister informed the House.
Suraj said that the higher education department has not provided any grant to KIIT during the last financial year.
The third-year engineering student from Nepal was found dead in her hostel room on February 16. The incident prompted protests at the institute led by students from Nepal and snowballed into a diplomatic row.
A batchmate of the woman had been arrested in connection with her death. It was alleged that months before her death, she had informed the university of misbehaviour by the man, but the two were allegedly made to put the matter to rest.
On the probe into the matter by a high-level committee headed by an additional chief secretary, the higher education minister said 19 people have appeared before it and recorded their statements.
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The high-level committee has been asked by the state government to look into the circumstances leading to the alleged suicide. It will also look into whether the university had addressed grievances by the deceased student, alleged highhandedness by the authorities against protesting students, and reasons for issuing eviction notices to students from Nepal.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
