How Two Indian Students in US Won Rs 1.65 Crore Settlement Over Palak Paneer Lunch Dispute After University Staff Complained Of ‘Smell’ – Here’s What Happened

Two Indian students studying in the United States secured a settlement worth Rs 1.65 crore (about $200,000) from the University of Colorado Boulder after a dispute over heating a lunch of palak paneer escalated into allegations of discrimination and a civil rights lawsuit.

The incident began on September 5, 2023, when Aditya Prakash, a PhD student in the university’s Anthropology Department, was heating his homemade palak paneer in a microwave provided for students. A staff member approached him and complained about the “smell,” telling him not to use the microwave. As Prakash later recalled, “It’s just food. I’m heating and leaving.”

What seemed like a minor kitchen exchange soon took a much bigger turn. Prakash said that after the exchange, matters “worsened,” and he was repeatedly summoned to meetings with senior faculty and accused of making staff “feel unsafe.”

The Indian students said that the school’s actions were discriminatory 

The dispute expanded when Prakash and his partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD student, accused the department of treating the policy in a way that had a “disproportionate and discriminatory impact on ethnic groups like South Asians.” They described the school’s actions as part of “discriminatory treatment and ongoing retaliation” that caused them “emotional distress, mental anguish, and pain and suffering,” as per reports. 

According to reports, Prakash also said that the university initially refused to grant the students their Master’s degrees, which are typically awarded to doctoral candidates on the way to completing a PhD. Prakash said that “The department also refused to grant us Master’s degrees that PhD students are awarded en route the PhD. That’s when we decided to seek legal recourse.”

Bhattacheryya lost her teaching assistant job without warning, and on later occasions when she and other students brought Indian food again, they were accused of “inciting a riot” on campus.  These claims were later dismissed by the university’s Office of Student Conduct, according to their lawsuit.

University spokesperson says they have reached an agreement with the plaintiffs 

In response to the lawsuit, a university spokesperson, Deborah Mendez-Wilson, said, “The university reached an agreement with the plaintiffs and denies any liability. The university has established processes to address allegations of discrimination and harassment, and it adhered to those processes in this matter.”

The dispute that began with a lunch evolved into a high-profile legal settlement and raised questions for the students about cultural understanding, discrimination and inclusion in US academic institutions, an issue that the couple says they hope “sends out a message that this (‘food racism’) cannot be practised with impunity.”

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