Bhubaneswar: Following outrage in the State Legislative Assembly, the State Government today formed a High Level Fact Finding Committee to probe into the incident leading to death of a Nepali girl student and following action by the institute.
In light of the recent unfortunate incident relating to KIIT University, the Government of Odisha has taken immediate cognizance of the matter and taken steps to arrest security guards and suspension of erring officials involved, the State Government said in a statement.
The institution has been placed under notice, and appropriate legal and administrative action will follow based on the findings of the Committee.
The Committee consists of Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Satyabrata Sahu, Principal Secretary, Women & Child Development, Subha Sarma and Secretary, Higher Education, Aravind Agrawal as Members.
Reports of misconduct including the use of force against students by private individuals are being investigated into, and those responsible, will be held accountable as per the law, the Government said.
The State Government remains committed to ensuring the safety, dignity, and well-being of every student. It will take all necessary steps to ensure that justice is served swiftly and fairly.
The issue was also raised by MLAs across party lines during the Zero Hour. All the members condemn the incident.
Senior Congress Member Taraprasad Bahinipati demanded a judicial probe into the incident in which the Nepali girl was suspected to have died by suicide and several other students from the Himalayan country were allegedly assaulted by KIIT staff.
“It hurts when we find that the students from Nepal were harassed in Odisha. Our state has a long-standing relationship with Nepal. The treatment by KIIT authorities has strained Odisha’s relationship with Nepal,” Shri Bahinipati said.
The Congress MLAs also threatened that he would stage a dharna in the assembly if the Chief Minister did not order a judicial inquiry into the incipient
BJP MLA Babu Singh also demanded the arrest of Achyuta Samanta, the Founder of KIIT.
“What has happened in KIIT is a shame for Odisha. Therefore, Shri Samanta should be arrested,” the BJP Lawmaker said, adding that the state has sustained a huge loss due to the “wrongdoings” of the private institute,” said Singh.
Speaking to media persons, High Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said the Government has asked the University authority to bring back all Nepali students who were forcefully evicted from the institute for staging protest after the death of the Nepali student.
“What was the reason behind announcing sine-die for Nepali students only? Why were the Nepali students de-boarded at Cuttack railway station? Why did the university authority not inform the Government about the incident when it involved foreign students?” asked the Minister.
About 100 Nepali students are there in the campus while another 800 Nepali students have left for their home, he said, adding, “We have asked the university authority to bring all of them by sending a special team and conducting counseling.”
One ADM rank official has been deployed at the university while the post-mortem of the girl student was conducted at AIIMS Bhubaneswar in presence of Bhubaneswar Sub-Collector, he said.