- Two Indian PhD students sued University of Colorado for discrimination over Indian food use
- They faced accusations and a hostile environment after heating palak paneer in a shared microwave
- The university withheld their earned master's degrees and terminated one student's assistantship
Two Indian PhD students at the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States won a civil rights settlement worth $200,000 (approx. Rs 1.8 crore), along with their dignity, after facing systemic discrimination over their choice of eating Indian food. The lawsuit relates to a 2023 incident when Aditya Prakash, now 34, was pursuing a PhD at the university's Anthropology Department.
On September 5, 2023, about a year after joining the university, Prakash said he was heating his lunch of palak paneer in a microwave at the department when a female staff member walked up to him, complained about the "smell", and told him not to use the microwave to heat his food.
What Happened
"The smell was pungent, she said," Prakash, 34, told the Indian Express. He said he tried arguing that it was a common space and he too has the right to access it.
"My food is my pride. And notions about what smells good or bad to someone are culturally determined," Prakash said. He said one of the facility members tried to argue that even broccoli heating was prohibited because of the strong odour. "I replied that context matters. 'How many groups of people do you know who face racism because they eat broccoli?'"
The matter soon escalated, with Prakash's partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, now 35, getting involved and supporting him. The couple alleged that they were subjected to discrimination for standing their ground on the kitchen incident.
Prakash claimed he was repeatedly called into meetings with senior faculty over accusations that he made the staff member "feel unsafe".
Bhattacheryya said she was fired from her teaching assistant position without an explanation for supporting Prakash.
"The department also refused to grant us master's degrees that PhD students are awarded en route to the PhD. That's when we decided to seek legal recourse," Prakash said.
In their lawsuit against the university in the United States District Court for Colorado, Prakash and Bhattacheryya alleged that after the kitchen dispute, the university withheld their master's degrees, which they had earned en route to their PhDs. They also alleged that they were subjected to a hostile environment that hampered their academic progress.
The lawsuit argued that the university's reaction to their cultural food was a manifestation of deeper "systemic bias" against international students.
In September 2025, the University of Colorado Boulder paid the two $200,000 to Prakash and Bhattacharyya, settling the case and conferring their master's degrees on them. However, the two have been barred from future enrolment or employment at the university.
Bhattacheryya's Viral Post
Recently, Bhattacheryya took to her Instagram profile to share that they won the case against the university.
"This year, I fought a fight – a fight for the freedom to eat what I want and to protest at will... no matter the colour of my skin, my ethnic extraction or the unflinchingly unchanged Indian accent," she wrote.
"I endured startling health reversals I'd never encountered before. The steady chipping away at, and eroding of, a self-respect and confidence I'd always jealously safeguarded -- that no one had ever dared to touch before. Until these actions did, if you've followed our journeys, did. Well, not for long. I will not be humbled by injustices. I will not be silent in the face of deliberate upheavals. I will certainly kowtow to no one."
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