Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba has said that the issue at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha, India, has been resolved.
Foreign Minister Rana said that the Nepali government took the death of Prakriti Lamsal, a Nepali student studying at KIIT, and the subsequent developments seriously and resolved them through diplomatic channels.
She informed that she had a phone conversation with Odisha's Minister of Higher Education Suryabanshi Suraj on Wednesday and urged for an impartial investigation into the death of Nepali student Prakriti Lamsal, legal action against the guilty, and a safe environment for Nepali students to continue their studies at the college.
According to her, Indian Minister Suraj said that the Odisha state government has taken the incident seriously and formed a high-level investigation committee to ensure justice for Lamsal and take action against the guilty.
"We immediately initiated diplomatic efforts following the incident. While the demand for justice for the deceased and action against the guilty remains, we coordinated with relevant authorities to ensure a safe environment for the Nepali students to study there. Subsequently, the university has apologized and returned the students to their hostels, and taken action against the college staff involved in mistreatment," she said.
Since the Odisha government has already formed a high-level investigation committee to look into the student's death, Nepal has demanded an impartial investigation and legal action against the guilty.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi have been in contact with the Odisha government and KIIT administration and coordinating necessary actions, Minister Rana said.
Nepali students are now spread across the globe, but since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have data on all of them, it would be easier to rescue them if arrangements were made to maintain such data at the ministry in the coming days, she added.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not know where and in what condition Nepalis are, but it becomes known when they face problems and need to be rescued. The ministry lacks sufficient manpower to rescue them immediately. This is also a reason for the ongoing problems," she said.
Foreign Minister Rana returned to Nepal on Thursday after participating in the 8th Indian Ocean Conference held in Muscat, Oman. She had traveled to Oman on Friday (February 14) at the invitation of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi.
Upon her return, Minister Rana told journalists at Tribhuvan International Airport that she delivered a speech representing Nepal at the conference held with the theme “Voyage to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership”.
