The unrest in KIIT began after the alleged suicide of Prakriti Lamsal on Sunday afternoon. (PTI Photo)Over a dozen Nepali students of Bhubaneshwar-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) on Friday said there is no congenial and safe atmosphere for their return to the institute in the aftermath of the alleged suicide of a 20-year-old girl student from the neighbouring country on Sunday and physical assault on protesting students a day after the incident.“We are in trauma and too scared to return to the institute,” they said at a press conference in Kathmandu.The students, wearing masks, requested journalists not to mention their names.Some of them have met parliamentarians from the ruling parties seeking their intervention to get at least first and second year students transferred to some other colleges.Speaking on the occasion, Janice Muktan of Hami Nepal Sanstha, an NGO that bought the students tickets for their return from Bhubaneswar, said: “The students are in trauma and we are arranging necessary counseling for them.”Explaining their ordeal, the students said the day after Prakriti’s death, they assembled to get exact information and demand action against the culprits.“Outside goons and body builders – around 40 altogether – were called in to beat us like street dogs,” the students said.Story continues below this ad“We were asked to leave the college and go back home. Now they (the college authorities) are saying that the issue has been settled and we must return, but how could we be sure that the same treatment would not be repeated,” one of the students said, adding that he is still having pain in his neck following the assault he suffered on Monday.“Just five of them have been arrested. Where are the others?” he asked.“We request the Nepali government here to ensure our safe return and conducive atmosphere for our studies,” he said, adding at least the first and second year students should be transferred to other colleges as they are too scared to go back to KIIT. “We cannot just go back on the basis of news of settlement there,” he said.The unrest in KIIT began after the alleged suicide of Prakriti Lamsal on Sunday afternoon. Other Nepalese students staged agitation and demanded justice. However, the KIIT authorities issued suspension notices to about 1,000 Nepalese students and asked them to leave the campus on Monday.Story continues below this adFollowing the intervention of the Centre and the Odisha government, the KIIT authorities had tendered an apology and requested the Nepalese students to return to the campus. The state government has opened a round-the-clock help desk, to facilitate the Nepalese students’ safe return.The police have registered two cases in connection with the alleged suicide of the Nepalese student and the subsequent attacks on the youths from the neighbouring country allegedly by the staffers of KIIT.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:KIITOdisha