Prakriti Lamsal's death triggers protests — India-Nepal tensions rise

UPDATED: Feb 20, 2025 23:31 IST

The death of a 20-year old student from Nepal, Prakriti Lamsal, in India has sparked concern and outrage in both countries. Lamsal was a student at Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Information Technology and committed suicide after alleged harassment and blackmail by another student at the university. Her death led to protests by the university’s Nepalese students after KIIT refused to investigate the matter. Subsequently, the university forced several students from Nepal to leave the campus.

The university’s treatment of its students has led to a significant political controversy with political and diplomatic representatives from both countries getting involved.

Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli intervened directly in the matter and sent representatives from the country’s Embassy in New Delhi to KIIT. Nepal’s Education Ministry warned that it could restrict students from going to Odisha for studies if the matter was not resolved satisfactorily.

Lamsal’s death and subsequent events have also generated a political storm with elements of Nepal’s opposition parties raising the issue in Parliament.

With all this, experts have expressed concern that the saga could negatively impact India-Nepal relations. Journalist Sanjeev Satgainya, a former editor of the Kathmandu Post, sat down with India Today Global to explain the mood in Nepal.

Satgainya acknowledged that there had been a sharp reaction to the controversy, particularly due to social media. However, he added that the two countries had handled the matter sensitively.

“I would say that both countries worked in tandem to prevent the situation from escalating. Otherwise sentiments tend to run very high when something like this happens,” Satgainya told India Today Global.

The controversy comes at a time when there have been some diplomatic tensions between India and Nepal in recent years. These have revolved around bilateral territorial claims and the recruitment of Nepalese citizens into the Indian army as a result of the Agnipath scheme.

However, Satgainya stated that Lamsal’s death and the subsequent controversy will not derail bilateral relations further.