RUPANDEHI: The walls of the Lamsal home at Bank Colony in Siddharthanagar-8 are adorned with photos of Prakriti Lamsal alongside heartfelt messages written by her friends. The family is in deep mourning following Prakriti’s sudden death in India.
Sunil and Sarita Lamsal are devastated by the loss of their daughter Prakriti, a third-year B-Tech student at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha, India, who was found dead in her university hostel on February 16.
“We have lost Prakriti, but you all stay safe,” a tearful Sarita told her daughter’s friends on Monday. Prakriti’s classmates, including Pratibha Sharma, Nirmala Raut Kshetri, Sujit Pangeni, Ayush Bhandari, and Bir Bahadur Kunwar, visited Bank Colony to pay their respects. Fellow Nepali students from KIIT, politicians, and social workers have also arrived at Lamsal’s home to offer condolences.
The family is not only grieving the loss of their daughter but is also worried about whether they will get justice. “I have lost my daughter, but what else is there to lose?” said Sunil Lamsal. “Those responsible for my daughter’s death must be punished so that no one else suffers as we do.”
Nepali students claim that Prakriti’s death resulted from harassment by Adwik Srivastav, a 21-year-old third-year B-Tech (Mechanical) student who has since been arrested. While authorities have labeled the death a suicide, the family insists that the circumstances remain mysterious.
“The accused must be punished according to Indian law,” Sunil stated, adding that it is the responsibility of the Indian government to uncover the truth about the incident.
“College Administration’s Negligence”
Sunil believes that Prakriti’s death was the result of the university administration’s negligence. He revealed that Prakriti had complained to the college about Adwik’s harassment. Despite filing complaints twice, the International Relations Officer merely mediated and let the matter go without informing the parents, which, Sunil believes, led to the tragedy. “If the college had informed us, we would have brought Prakriti back to Nepal or taken other measures,” Sunil said. “It is clear that my daughter lost her life due to the negligence of the university. No other Nepali daughter should face what my daughter went through.”
The family’s sole demand is justice. “We want assurances that no Nepali student will have to experience what Prakriti did,” he added.
Final Conversations
Prakriti had visited home just six weeks before her death and had expressed interest in pursuing opportunities in Nepal. “Daddy, I want to do something in Nepal, let’s talk about internships,” she had told her father by phone just three days before the incident.
She usually talked more with her mother. If Sunita is not online, she would call her maternal home and ask them to tell her mother to come online.
On the day of the incident, Prakriti spoke with her mother at around 3 pm. “There’s a festival at the college and artists are coming to perform,” Prakriti told her mother, referring to the three-day “KIIT Fest” at the university. Sarita recalls that in their video call, Prakriti seemed to have just awakened, which wasn’t unusual given her late sleeping habits.
“Three hours before the incident, she told me, ‘I’ve posted photos on Facebook, like them, Mom.’ These were her last words,” Sarita recounted. “I have lost my daughter, but I hope no other mother experiences this pain.”
Prakriti had always excelled in her studies. Although her home was in Bhairahawa, her family had been living in Kathmandu for the past 17 years. Prakriti studied up to grade 4 in Bhairahawa. After moving to Kathmandu, she completed her SLC from Samakhusi English Boarding School in Kathmandu and studied science up to grade 12 at Uniglobe College.
After completing grade 12, she was sent to KIIT in Odisha after family discussions, Sunil explained.
She enrolled at KIIT in 2022 along with her elder cousin Siddhant Sigdel and younger cousin Anurodh Khanal.
Prakriti’s last rites were performed according to Hindu traditions by her grandfather Devnath Lamsal.
