THE tragic death of Prakriti Lamsal, a Nepali B.Tech student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), a private engineering college in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in February 2025, exposed serious problems of institutional incompetence and poor management. Prakriti’s death was followed by protests by Nepali students who claimed that the university administration had not adequately responded to their harassment. The administration’s decision to compel all Nepali students to leave the university in response to their protest, resulted in heightened tensions as the Nepalese government intervened diplomatically.
Educational institutions in India are infamous for concealing allegations of wrongdoing to preserve institutional reputations. Public confidence erodes by this propensity to hide instances of harassment, abuse, and carelessness. It also serves to maintain systemic flaws. By discouraging victims from coming forward, this playbook creates an atmosphere that fosters violence and harassment. There are apprehensions that transparently handling wrongdoing could result in bad press that could impact financing and student enrolment. Financial reliance on donors or political lobbies also discourage administrations from pursuing strong action or owning accountability.
This problem is additionally exacerbated by the law. Organizations continue to conceal misconduct despite a weak enforcement framework and lenient penalties. Prolonged complaint resolution processes deter victims from reporting occurrences and enable organizations to avoid prompt accountability, thus sustaining institutional impunity.
