Indian Students Win $200K Over ‘Pungent’ Food Complaint at US University

In a case that has sparked widespread discussion in Indian diaspora communities and beyond, two Indian doctoral students at the University of Colorado Boulder have received a $200,000 settlement from the university following a federal civil rights lawsuit. The dispute originated from a 2023 complaint about the smell of homemade Indian food—specifically palak paneer—being heated in a departmental microwave, which the students claim spiraled into broader discrimination, retaliation, and the derailment of their academic careers.

Aditya Prakash, then a PhD student in cultural anthropology, was reheating his lunch of palak paneer—a traditional North Indian dish of pureed spinach and paneer (cottage cheese)—in the anthropology department’s shared kitchen on September 5, 2023. According to accounts in the federal lawsuit and interviews with the students, a staff member entered the room, remarked that the food smelled “pungent,” and informed Prakash there was a rule prohibiting the microwaving of foods with strong odors.

Prakash, now 34, described the comment as a racialized microaggression, evoking childhood experiences of exclusion in Europe over the scent of Indian home-cooked meals. “It wasn’t about that one lunch. It was about whether I had to change what I eat and where I eat it,” he told The Independent. He calmly explained to the staff member that it was simply food and returned to his desk to eat, feeling “othered and saddened.”

The incident quickly escalated. Prakash confronted the staff member, who brought in an administrator. The administrator reportedly expressed a desire to keep the office “smelling nice” and disposed of Prakash’s empty container in front of him. When asked about acceptable foods, she cited “sandwiches” as fine but singled out “curry” as problematic. Prakash pointed out inconsistencies, noting that beef chili brought by the same administrator the previous year had not drawn complaints.

Two days later, Prakash and four fellow students—including his partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, who had recently joined the department as a doctoral student and teaching assistant—heated Indian food together in an act of solidarity. Another staff member allegedly “heckled” them and closed the kitchen door, which the group interpreted as a gesture of disgust.

The department accused the students of “inciting a riot” and referred the matter to the Office of Student Conduct, though no formal findings resulted. Bhattacheryya invited Prakash to speak in her class on ethnocentrism and cultural relativism about lived experiences of food-based exclusion among South Asians—without naming individuals. Shortly after, she was locked out of her teaching roster without warning or explanation.

A department-wide email soon reinstated restrictions on preparing foods with “strong or lingering smells” in the main office kitchen. Prakash and Bhattacheryya responded by emailing the entire department, calling the policy discriminatory. From there, the couple alleges, the focus shifted to their “behavior and professionalism.” Prakash was told staff felt threatened by him and required chaperoning in certain areas.

By January 2024, their PhD advisory committees resigned en masse, and they were reassigned to advisers outside their research fields—effectively stalling their doctoral progress. They lost eligibility for teaching roles and funding, jeopardizing their immigration status. A university official later acknowledged the couple’s experience of “pain, discrimination and racism” in correspondence.

In May 2025 (some reports cite September 2025 for filing), Prakash and Bhattacheryya filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Colorado, alleging discrimination based on national origin and culture, as well as retaliation under civil rights laws.

The University of Colorado Boulder settled the case in late 2025 (reported as September or four months after filing), agreeing to pay $200,000 while explicitly denying any liability. As part of the agreement, the university conferred Master’s degrees on the couple for work already completed but permanently barred them from future enrollment or employment at the institution. The prolonged stress exacerbated Bhattacheryya’s fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, and left years of PhD work unfinished.

A university spokesperson, Deborah Méndez-Wilson, stated: “The university is committed to an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff regardless of national origin, religion, culture. When these allegations arose in 2023, we took them seriously and adhered to established, robust processes to address them, as we do with all claims of discrimination and harassment. We reached an agreement with the students in September and deny any liability in this case.”

Prakash and Bhattacheryya, now engaged, left the United States this month (January 2026) and have returned to India. Their story has gained traction online, particularly in Indian communities, where many view it as emblematic of subtle biases faced by South Asian immigrants in Western academic and professional spaces—often framed around hygiene, comfort, or “shared norms” that disproportionately target non-Western cuisines.

Prakash framed the ordeal in broader terms: “This is something that we as a people have been bearing for a long time. If this is the path we have to walk, then so it be. Our people should see a better day.”

The case highlights ongoing debates about cultural sensitivity in shared academic environments, the line between personal preferences and discrimination, and the challenges international students face when asserting rights in U.S. institutions.