Palak paneer to courtroom: Two Indian students win ₹1.8 crore settlement from US university

Two Indian PhD students, Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacheryya, at the University of Colorado Boulder secured a $200,000 (approximately ₹1.8 crore) settlement in a civil rights case stemming from an incident in 2023. The dispute began when a university staff member complained about the smell of Prakash’s palak paneer while he was reheating it in a shared microwave. The couple alleged they faced retaliation, including accusations of making the staff member feel unsafe and the removal of Bhattacheryya from her teaching assistant role, as well as the withholding of their master’s degrees.

The lawsuit claimed the university fostered a hostile environment and exhibited systemic bias against international students. The University of Colorado Boulder agreed to the settlement in September 2025, awarding the students their master’s degrees, but also barring them from future enrollment or employment at the institution.

Prakash and Bhattacheryya, who met in Delhi before pursuing their PhDs in the US, stated that prior to the incident, their academic careers were thriving, with Prakash receiving grants and Bhattacheryya’s research being well-received. They have since returned to India.

(Source：Mint)