By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The complaint/intimation dated 20/02/2025, was placed before the Commission on 27/03/2025. Upon perusing the same, the Commission directed as follows:
The complainant alleged that the victim, a Nepali student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, had faced harassment by her named ex-boyfriend, Advik Srivastava, and that the university’s International Relations Office (IRO) had neglected her complaints, contributing to her tragic suicide.
Protests by Nepali students seeking justice were met with verbal abuse, threats, and physical assault by KIIT officials and security guards. Additionally, the complainant accused Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) of exploiting tribal children, violating their human rights, and engaging in illegal land acquisitions.
A 2017 Child Welfare Committee report revealed poor living conditions at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), including overcrowding, unclean facilities, and lack of basic amenities. The complainant urged the commission to take action against KIIT officials, including founder Achyuta Samanta, for their failure to address harassment complaints and their involvement in the exploitation of tribal students.
The Commission vide proceeding dated 03.03.2025 took cognizance in the matter and directed the Registrar (Law) to proceed for an inquiry in KIIT University, Bhubaneswar to conduct an on spot inquiry alongwith team consisting two officers from Investigation Division, one not below the rank of SSP and one officer/official from Law Division and submit its inquiry report to the Commission by 10th March, 2025.
Pursuant to the direction of the Commission, the Registrar (Law), SSP and an Inspector rank officer, conducted a spot inquiry for the period from 06.03.2025 to 08.03.2025 and visited KIIT University and KISS Campus, Bhubaneswar. The issues involved before the
team were:
- The victim girl, a Nepali student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, faced harassment by her named ex-boyfriend, Advik Srivastava.
- The university’s International Relations Office (IRO) had neglected her complaints, contributing to her tragic suicide.
iii. Protests by Nepali students seeking justice were met with verbal abuse, threats, and physical assault by KIIT officials and security guards.
- Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) of exploiting tribal children, violating their human rights. The report of the 2017 Child Welfare Committee revealed poor living conditions at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), including overcrowding, unclean facilities, and lack of basic amenities.
During the inquiry, the team recorded the statements of Hostel In-charge QC-4, KIIT, roommates of deceased girl, relatives of deceased girl, Addl. Director of all girls hostel, security guard, faculty staff, Chairperson ICC, KIIT, Director Admn, Director IRO, Initial IO and present IO of case Infocity PS, etc.
The Spot Inquiry Team of the Commission submitted following findings
Factum of death: The death of the deceased victim, Nepali girl student was suicidal, and investigation team did not get even a single document or witness who raised finger to the fact that the death of deceased girl was other than suicide. The evidence, witness and documents, including the post-mortem report & inquest report etc. suggest that the deceased girl had committed suicide in her room by hanging. As per postmortem and other documents, the cause of death is asphyxia due to ante mortem hanging and investigation team also did not find anything contrary to above stated documents regarding cause of death.
The allegations are that one boy Advik Shrivastava had some objectionable photographs of the deceased girl, and he used to extend threat to the deceased that he would make public her photographs or will send to her parents and relatives. The deceased girl had given complaint to IRO in this regard. The alleged accused, Advik Srivastava is in judicial custody since 17/02/2025 in connection with FIR No. 0054, dated 16/02/2025, under Section 108 of BNS and during investigation, sections 75, 78, 79, 108, 294, and 296 of the BNS read with sections 66E, 67, and 67A of the IT Act, have been added. The investigation is under process.
Alleged cause of death: Based on documents part of this report and considering facts and circumstances, the deceased Nepali girl made a complaint on 12/03/2024 to KIIT’s International Relations Office in which she had written about her depressed conditions and mental state during the days. In said complaint, she also clearly mentioned that she has already extended a threat to the alleged accused Advik Shrivastava that she will commit suicide if he does not delete her nude photos. As per the statements of the University registrar and IRO officials, after receiving the complaint, they further referred/informed to disciplinary committee officials.
The committee officials directed Advik Shrivastava to delete all nude photographs of the victim and did not take necessary steps which are required to be taken but they disposed of the matter in a very casual manner. The IRO office and disciplinary committee just get undertakings from the victim and the alleged accused rather than informing or referring to this complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee [ICC] or the local police station. The Chairperson of the ICC has also admitted in her statement that the complaint of the deceased girl dated 12/03/2024 should have been forwarded to the ICC. Therefore, the conduct of the IRO and University officers/ disciplinary committee and college authorities sufficient to show that there is gross negligence and omission on their part IRO and University authorities which may treated amount to act of abetment to commit suicide on the part of the university officials, which finally resulted in her suicide.
After the incident on 16th Feb 2025, University students started agitation against the KIIT University officials their officials misbehaved and abused the Nepali students and passed the derogatory remarks against Nepal, which were also being observed and corroborated with video circulating on social media and such videos are in public domain. The registrar of University Mr. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty and other witnesses have admitted that two administrative officers namely Jayanti Nath & Manjusha Pandey misbehaved with Nepali Students and remarks made by them were improper, unacceptable and cannot be appreciated.
Later, the said university officials were suspended by the KMT authorities, which itself proves that the shortcomings and negligence were on the part of university officials. The next day, i.e., 17/02/2025, in the morning hours at about 7.00-8.00 AM, the 3 of 11 27-03-2025, 06:46 pm university declared sine die and issued notice only against the Nepali students, and Nepali students were forced to vacate the hostels/university campus without giving even time to make alternative arrangement of their stay.
The university authorities arranged buses and left them unattended at different locations such as Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Khordha railway stations. It shows gross violations of human rights of Nepali students. Some witnesses have admitted that not only Nepali Students, but other students were also involved in protest, but sine-die notice was issued only for Nepali student which does not seem justified. The university officials have admitted the fact that almost 1000-1100 students had left their hostel on 17/02/2025 whereas almost 180 girl students left the hostel in such a hast which may lead to some other untoward incident, but college authorities did not bothered safety of girl students and they were thrown out from campus.
After considering the observations of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Khordha District, Bhubaneswar, report dated 06/07/2017. The spot inquiry team visited the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) on 08/03/2025. It is noticed that the situation is still the same as that which was observed and the findings of the CWC committee in the year 2017.
In that report, the CWC had also recommended and requested to the district collector Khordha for the formation of a joint inquiry committee to investigate the issue and recommend the district administration for proper action for the best interest of the children. However, the said joint inquiry is still pending on the part of the district administration. It is observed by spot inquiry committee that no as such recommendation have been followed by the District administration nor KISS authorities complied with the observation of CWC.”
The Commission has perused the reports. The factum of submission of complaint by the victim girl regarding sexual harassment, to the IRO of the university is not in dispute. The deceased girl made a complaint on 12/03/2024 to KIIT’s International Relations Office in which she had written about her depressed conditions and mental state during the days. It is also not in dispute that the IRO office and disciplinary committee just get undertakings from the victim and the alleged accused rather than informing or referring to this complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee [ICC] or the local police station.
The girl committed suicide and FIR was registered which is under investigation. The team, during inquiry, also came to know that Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Khordha District, Bhubaneswar, report dated 06/07/2017, submitted to the District Administration highlighted the poor living conditions at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), including overcrowding, unclean facilities, and lack of basic amenities. However, it is a matter of record, that no action was taken on the recommendation of the CWC Khordha District.
The succeeding paragraphs examine how the non-action by the District Administration, Khordha and KIIT University violated the rights of the deceased girl enshrined in international covenants, constitutional provisions, applicable domestic law and rules and judgements of superior courts on the issue.
Constitutional provisions: The victim was sexually harassed by the accused and subsequent non-action by IRO of the University violated the deceased’s right to equality and right to live with dignity. Each such incident results in violation of the fundamental rights of ‘Gender Equality’ and the ‘Right of Life and Liberty’. It is clear violation of the rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
Right to Dignity
The Supreme Court observed in Mohini Jain vs State of Kartnataka: “Right to education is the essence of the right to life and directly flow and interlinked with it, and life living with dignity can only be assured when there is a significant role of education” (refer 1992 AIR 1858, 1992 SCR (3) 658).
The Supreme Court per Justice Bhagwati declared that the right to life under Article 21 protects a broader right to “live with human dignity.” The Court also stated, “Article 21 cannot be restricted to mere animal existence.” Rather, “it must…include the right to the basic necessities of life and also the right to carry on such functions and activities as constitute the bare minimum expression of the human self.” (refer Francis Coralie Mullin v. Union Territory of Delhi in (1981) 2 SCR 516). The Court has built upon this judgment to enforce a number of new socioeconomic rights within the “right to live with human dignity.”
The Supreme Court held Article 21 of our Constitution guarantees enjoyment of life by all citizens of this country with dignity, viewing this human rights in terms of human development (refer NALSA vs. Union of India in (2014) 5 SCC 438; AIR 2014 SC 1863).
The aforesaid judgements of the Hon’ble Apex Court show that dignity and the Right to dignity has been read into the fundamental Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21 of our Constitution. In this instance, the complainant’s complaint was not addressed as per law and guidelines issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court which had violated her fundamental right to live with dignity.
Right to Higher Education
In the matter of Unni Krishnan vs State of A.P. ((1993) 1 SCC 645: AIR 1993 SC 2178)), the Hon’ble Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of state laws regulating capitation fees in private professional educational institutions. While admitting that there was no fundamental right to professional education, the court held (per Pandian and Jeevan Reddy, JJ.): “The right to education which is implicit in the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by Art. 21 must be construed in the light of the Directive Principles in Part IV of the Constitution.” (para 171). “…right to education is not stated expressly as a fundamental right, it is implicit in and flows from the right to life guaranteed under Art 21.” (para 166). “The fact that right to education occurs in as many as three Articles in Part IV viz., Arts. 41, 45 and 46 shows the importance attached to it by the founding fathers. Even some of the Arts. in Part III, viz., Arts. 29 and 30, speak of education.” (para 167).
Thus, Higher Education is a fundamental right as construed in the light of the directive principles in Part IV of the Constitution and “within the limits of its (State’s) economic capacity and development (para 48 supra)”.
Be that as it may, access to Higher Education should necessarily be followed by unhampered and continued access till completion of the course. It is implied therein that, after having obtained such access or admission to a course, a student should not be prevented from completing it, except according to procedure established by the law.
However, in this instance, the KIIT University did not provide the right lawful atmosphere to the deceased girl to pursue her studies and higher education thereby violated her Right to Higher Education.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women:
India has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which entered into force as an International Treaty way back in 1981. Respect for the dignity of women is one of the pillars of foundation of the said Convention. Article 1 of the Convention defines the term “discrimination against women” to mean anydiscrimination, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex, which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by the women, irrespective of their marital status on the basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedom. Article 5 enjoins upon States Parties to take appropriate measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of contact of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudice and customary and all other practices, which are based upon the idea of inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition And Redressal)
Act, 2013 (Posh):With the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act 2013, (Sexual Harassment Act) in April 2013, the notion of bodily integrity as explicated in the Verma Committee’s Bill of Rights for Women) has been given legal sanctity. Sexual harassment is now considered as a violation of the fundamental right of a woman to equality as guaranteed under Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and her right to life and to live with dignity as per Article 21 of the Constitution.
The Sexual Harassment Act requires an employer to set up an Internal Complaints Committee (“ICC”) at each office or branch of an organization employing at least 10 employees. The Sexual Harassment Act also sets out the constitution of the committees, the process to be followed for making a complaint and inquiring into the complaint in a time bound manner. In addition to ensuring compliance with the other provisions stipulated, the Sexual Harassment Act casts certain obligations upon the employer to, inter alia,
- provide a safe working environment
- display conspicuously at the workplace, the penal consequences of indulging in acts that may constitute sexual harassment and the composition of the Internal Complaints Committee
iii. organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitizing employees on the issues and implications of workplace sexual harassment and organizing orientation programmes for members of the Internal Complaints Committee
- treat sexual harassment as a misconduct under the service rules and initiate action for misconduct.
- The employer is also required to monitor the timely submission of reports by the ICC.
If an employer fails to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee or does not comply with any provisions contained therein, the Sexual Harassment Act prescribes a monetary penalty of up to INR 50,000. A repetition of the same offence could result in the punishment being doubled and / or de-recognition.
The government is in turn required to set up ‘Local Complaints Committees’ (“LCC”) at the district level to investigate complaints regarding sexual harassment from establishments where the ICC has not been constituted.
In the instant complaint, the Spot Inquiry Team, recorded the statement of the Dr. Ipsita Satpathy, Chairperson ICC, KIIT in which she stated that she was not aware that any complaint was given by deceased victim to IRO. The IRO or any other authorities had not referred or transmitted the complaint to the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC). On showing the complaint to the deponent, she stated that the complaint dated 12.03.2024 given by the deceased girl comes within the purview of the ICC committee, and on receiving such a complaint, it should have been forwarded to the ICC committee. She categorically admitted that the complaint was related to capturing nude photographs and sexual harassment, and so the matter must have been reported to the police.
Hence, the IRO of the KIIT University violated the victim’s Right to Fair Investigation under POSH Act.
UGC Guidelines/directions (Saksham Report)
The UGC in its report called Saksham in respect of “Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitisation on Campuses”, explored the situation prevailing in campuses across the country and recommended as under: a. Setting up a Gender Sensitization Unit within the UGC. This will act as a nodal division to give effect to the policy of zero tolerance of gender based violence on campuses of colleges and Universities.
- Gender Sensitization: ALL members of higher educational institutions must undergo processes of gender sensitization, whether students, faculty, administration or support staff. All students must undergo some course or workshop during their period of study. Promotions for staff and faculty should be contingent on participation in gender sensitization programme.
- Sexual Harassment: All HEIs must formulate guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment in their respective institutions, whether they be autonomous, affiliating, coeducational or women’s colleges. The proposed UGC unit on gender sensitization will provide a template to help institutions in this regard and allay fears of non-compliance.
HEIs must become sensitized to those whose social or structural location renders them especially vulnerable to sexual harassment, whether among students or staff.
- Preparation of a UGC Booklet: A handbook on sexual harassment and gender sensitization to be prepared for all faculties.
- Preparation of Courses and Workshop Modules: A model Gender sensitization course has been prepared and a series of workshops on gender, masculinity, sexual harassment, rights and the law have been suggested. All Refresher courses must have a gender component including issues relating to sexual harassment.
- University Services and Infrastructure: Counselling services must be professional and provided on a full time basis. The provision of sufficient lighting in and around campuses, reliable public transport, toilet facilities and health (including sexual health) are necessary requirements for women’s security and freedom from harassment. Hostel accommodation must be enhanced for women students. A requisite number of female security personnel are required and all security staff must be gender sensitized.
Apart from above guidelines, the UGC has also directed that all HEIs should ensure that provisions contained in UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2012, are observed by teaching & non-teaching staff, students and other stakeholders in letter and spirit. Discrimination, verbal or behavioral, based on the caste, religion, colour, nationality sex, gender, sexual orientation and social status is strictly prohibited and HEIs must do all it takes to ensure that such practices are nipped in the bud.
HEIs should mandatorily put in place a broad-based “Students Counseling System” for the effective management of problems and challenges faced by students. It should be a unique, interactive and target-oriented system, involving students, teachers and parents, resolved to address common student concerns ranging from anxiety, stress, fear of change and failure to homesickness and a slew of academic worries. It should bridge the formal as well as communicative gaps between the students and the institution at large. Teacher counselors, trained to act as the guardians of students at the college level, should remain in close touch with the students allotted to them (batch of 25 students) though out the year, cater to their emotional and intellectual needs and convey their growth report and feedback on attendance, examination results etc to their parents at regular interval of time. Teacher counselors can coordinate with wardens of hostels and exchange personal details of students, academic record and behavior patterns for prompt pre-emptive or corrective action.
In this case, the KIIT University had not taken steps in accordance with UGC guidelines which was in brazen violation of direction of the UGC. The KIIT University had violated the UGC directions to the detriment of its students, in general, and the deceased victim, in particular. Regrettably, the UGC had not taken any action for this violation.
National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for Higher Education:
The NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) an autonomous Institution of the UGC, is entrusted with making quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It accredits HEIs based on specified criteria. The mandate of NAAC as reflected in its vision statement is in making quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is measure to evaluate and then guarantee a standard of education provided in higher institutions across the nation.
NAAC has identified a set of seven criteria to serve as the basis of its assessment procedures. NAAC has categorized the Higher Educational Institutions into three major types (University, Autonomous College, and Affiliated/Constituent College) and assigned different weightages to these criteria under different key aspects based on the functioning and organizational focus of the three types of HEIs. One such measures is “Student Support & Progression” i.e. whether the Institution has a transparent mechanism for timely redressal of student grievances including sexual harassment and ragging case etc.? It is measured whether the institution has:
- Implementation of guidelines of statutory/regulatory bodies;
- Organisation wide awareness and undertakings on policies with zero tolerance;
- Mechanisms for submission of online/offline students’ grievances; and
- Timely redressal of the grievances through appropriate committees.
- In the present case, it is a matter of record that in the year of 2017, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Khordha District, highlighted the poor living conditions at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), including overcrowding, unclean facilities, and lack of basic amenities. However, there was no action by the Khordha District Administration on the recommendation of the CWC.
Thus, it would be seen whether this issue of non-compliance of “Student Support & Progression” has even been factored in the report in the NAAC accreditation. The KIIT University and KISS have both been unable to comply the law and failed to provide safety and security to their students. Why should these aspects not to be considered by the NAAC in its accreditation process? This is an extremely relevant question.
While accrediting institutions, the NAAC should also check compliance with UGC Regulations, guidelines, particularly those relating to Human Rights like, anti-ragging measures, Internal Complaint Committee for sexual harassment at workplace, affirmative and non-discriminatory measures for disabled, etc.
The Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Recommendation of the CWC:
The State Government constitutes a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in each district to address the issues of children in need of care and protection under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. This module describes in detail the powers, functions and responsibilities of the CWC with respect to children in need of care and protection. Also given are the various rehabilitation measures prescribed for children under the Juvenile Justice Act, for which the Committee can pass orders. A CWC is a body notified and constituted under section 27 of the JJ Act, 2015 for every district for exercising the powers and to discharge the duties conferred on such Committees in relation to children in need of care and protection under this Act. Section 29 of the JJ Act, defines the powers of the CWC and Section 30 of the JJ
Act defines functions and responsibilities.
During Spot Inquiry, it came to light that the Child Welfare Committee, Khordha District, Bhubaneswar, in its report dated 06.07.2017 had recommended and requested to the district collector Khordha for the formation of a joint inquiry committee to investigate the issue and recommend the district administration for proper action for the best interest of the children. However, the said joint inquiry is still pending on the part of the district administration.
The Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 under section 75, clearly states that “Whoever, having the actual charge of, or control over, a child, assaults, abandons, abuses, exposes or willfully neglects the child or causes or procures the child to be assaulted, abandoned, abused, exposed or neglected in a manner likely to cause such child unnecessary mental or physical suffering, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine of one lakh rupees or with both”
Rule 93 of the Juvenile Justice Model Rules, 2016 “empowers the State Government to take action against such officer/ institution, statutory body etc. after due inquiry who fails to comply with the provisions of the Act and the Rules framed thereunder, and simultaneously make alternative arrangements for discharge of functions for effective implementation of the Act.”
In the present case, it is observed by Spot Inquiry Team that as such no recommendation have been followed by the KISS authorities in compliance with the observation of CWC so submitted to the Khordha District Administration, thereby violated the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
Directions of the Commission
It is evident that the conduct of the IRO and University officers/ disciplinary committee and college authorities sufficient to show that there is gross negligence and omission on their part IRO and University authorities which may treated amount to act of abetment to commit suicide on the part of the university officials, which finally resulted in her suicide.
The university officials have admitted the fact that almost 1000-1100 students had left their hostel on 17/02/2025 whereas almost 180 girl students left the hostel in such a hast which may lead to some other untoward incident, but college authorities did not bothered safety of girl students and they were thrown out from campus. Regrettably, the University was unrepentant and even had the audacity to reply that there had been no merit in the allegations. This manifests sheer insensitivity, if not downright arrogance.
In view of the above observations, the Commission issues the following directions:-
- a) The Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha, is directed to submit action taken report in the matter.
- b) The Collector & District Magistrate, Khordha District, Odisha, is directed to submit an action taken report. The report should also submit clarification on non-compliance of recommendation/observations dated 06.07.2017 of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Khordha. The CWC had recommended and requested the Collector, Khordha for the formation of a Joint Inquiry Committee to investigate the issue of poor living conditions at KISS.
- c) The Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissionerate, Odisha, is directed to submit updated investigation report of Infocity PS FIR No. 0054, dated 16/02/2025, u/s 108 BNS.
- d) Let the Chairman, UGC, New Delhi, consider initiating requisite action against the KIIT University and KISS for violation of its guidelines as discussed in paras 22-25 above and submit action taken report.
- e) Let the Chairman, NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) examine the matter in view of above concerns and observations of the Commission, as referred in paras 26-30 above and submit action taken report.
- f) Let the reports be submitted within four weeks.
Put up thereafter.
Accordingly, I am forwarding herewith a copy of the complaint/intimation as an attachment for taking appropriate action in the matter as per the directions of the Commission. It is requested that an Action Taken Report be sent to the Commission within 4 weeks from the date of receipt of this letter.
