In KIIT Crisis, Police Lapses Shouldn't Be Overlooked

The recent happenings in KIIT University have not only raised serious questions on the conduct of the institution's authorities but also sullied the image of Odisha internationally.

- SIBA MOHANTY Resident Editor, Odisha [e-mail]

The unsympathetic manner in which the varsity handled the suicide case of a Nepali student and the resultant protests by fellow students have sparked massive outrage nationally and drawn intervention of the Himalayan nation's top leadership from its prime minister to foreign minister.

While the university is understandably under fire, the role of the state government, particularly its police in dealing with an extremely delicate situation involving students of a foreign country which also happens to be a friendly neighbour of India cannot be absolved.

After the girl student's death by suicide, the accused - a batchmate of the victim - was arrested from Bhubaneswar airport on Sunday evening. But student protests had flared up on the campus and the streets in the area of the capital city and continued through the night.