KIIT student who ‘died by suicide’ had raised harassment complaint twice. But PoSH panel was not in the loop

Lamsal's complaint wasn't reported because it was considered 'mental, not sexual harassment', university says. Students tell ThePrint they are unaware of PoSH provisions on campus.

Protest at gates of KIIT campus | Shubhangi Misra | ThePrint

Bhubaneswar: On 25 January, Prakriti Lamsal found herself in a difficult situation as she signed an ‘undertaking’ with her ex-boyfriend, Advik Srivastava, who had been harassing her.

“On 25 January, we went to complain to the International Relations Officer about the harassment Prakriti was facing at the hands of Advik for the second time. But the IRO only made the two sign an undertaking that they will stop talking to each other and suspended Advik for a week,” Lamsal’s friend, who had accompanied her both times when she filed a complaint, told ThePrint.

Weeks later, on 16 February, Lamsal was found dead in her hostel room at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology. It was alleged that she died by suicide.

As her friend prepared to participate in a candle march in Nepal to honour Lamsal, she recalled the abuse that Lamsal had endured—physically, verbally, and mentally—at the hands of Srivastava.

Lamsal had been trying to end things with him since October, but he kept threatening her. “He would call her all day and night, even from different numbers, and threatened to leak private photos if she broke up with him,” the friend, who is also studying computer science engineering, explained to ThePrint during a phone call.

She said that Lamsal never approached the college’s internal complaints committee, which is required under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act (2013), nor did her mentor or the International Relations Officer guide her to do so. Providing such guidance is mandated under PoSH guidelines.

Dr. Shradhanjali Nayak, the PR director of KIIT, said that Lamsal’s complaint was not reported to the PoSH committee because it was considered “mental, not sexual harassment”. She claimed that the university regularly conducts awareness sessions about PoSH.

“Advik had even slapped her a few times,” the friend added, her voice heavy with emotion. “I saw her crying on the phone a couple of times, while he verbally abused her from the other end. Prakriti was actually under a lot of distress,” said another Nepalese student, who was also close to her.

 

Understanding of PoSH

ThePrint reached out to various students to gauge their understanding of the internal complaints committee at the college or the PoSH law. Most students were unaware of either.

“All students are assigned a mentor, a staff teacher who is their guide when they are in the university. During orientation, the mentors told us to approach them, if we faced sexual harassment, but nothing more,” a law student told ThePrint.

Another BTech student recalled, “My mentor once reprimanded a fellow student by saying, ‘I get many complaints against you,’ when issues of harassment were raised. Nothing more ever came of it.”

ThePrint also asked students if there were any posters or signs about the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) around the campus, but they reported there were none. Additionally, they claimed there had been no annual briefings by an external member, as required by law.

According to KIIT’s website, there is an active PoSH committee with 12 female members, including one external member named Malaya Mohapatra, a social worker. However, her contact information is not listed.

(Edited by Sudha V)