India accords high priority to safety, well-being of all international students: MEA on KIIT case

The government on Friday said it was deeply saddened by the recent death of a Nepalese student at an institution in Odisha, and asserted that it accords ”high priority” to the safety, security and well-being of all international students in the country.

In response to a query related to the incident at private engineering college KIIT in Bhubaneswar, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the ministry has been in ”constant touch” with the Odisha government and the KIIT authorities since the matter came to light.

”We have also maintained close contact with the Nepalese authorities. Pursuant to our outreach, several steps have been taken by the Odisha government as well as the KIIT institute to address the situation,” he said.

Odisha Police has made several arrests, the MEA spokesperson said.The police on Thursday arrested five more staff of the private engineering college on the charge of assaulting Nepalese students while they were vacating the hostel following a direction of the institute authorities.Police have so far arrested 11 people, including an engineering student who was booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of the 20-year-old Nepalese woman in her hostel room earlier.Following her death, the Nepalese students had staged demonstrations demanding justice.