Two Indian PhD students at the University of Colorado Boulder won a $200,000 civil rights settlement after alleging discrimination over heating Indian food on campus. The dispute escalated into claims of retaliation, degree denial, and a hostile environment. The university settled the case in 2025 and awarded their master’s degrees

Two Indian doctoral students at the University of Colorado Boulder have secured a $200,000 civil rights settlement (around ₹1.8 crore) after alleging that they faced systemic discrimination over their choice of Indian food on campus. The case, which stemmed from a 2023 incident, has reignited conversations around cultural bias, food shaming, and the treatment of international students in US universities.

How a lunch break sparked a legal battle

The dispute began on September 5, 2023, when Aditya Prakash, then a PhD scholar in the Anthropology Department, was reheating his lunch, palak paneer, in a departmental microwave. According to Prakash, a female staff member objected to the smell and asked him not to use the microwave for his food.

“The smell was pungent, she said,” Prakash recalled. He maintained that the kitchen was a shared space and that he had the same right to use it as anyone else. Emphasising the cultural undertones of the incident, he said, “My food is my pride. And notions about what smells good or bad to someone are culturally determined.”

Escalation and alleged retaliation

The situation soon escalated beyond the kitchen. Prakash claimed he was repeatedly summoned to meetings with senior faculty after the staff member alleged she felt “unsafe.” His partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD student, supported him and became directly affected.

Bhattacheryya alleged she was abruptly removed from her teaching assistant role without explanation. The couple further claimed that the department withheld their master’s degrees, typically awarded en route to completing a PhD, despite them meeting the academic requirements.

“That’s when we decided to seek legal recourse,” Prakash said.

Lawsuit and settlement outcome

In their lawsuit filed in the US District Court for Colorado, the students argued that the university fostered a hostile environment and that the reaction to their cultural food reflected deeper systemic bias against international students.

In September 2025, the University of Colorado Boulder settled the case by paying $200,000 and formally awarding both students their master’s degrees. However, the settlement also bars them from future enrolment or employment at the university.

A viral reaction on social media

Following the settlement, Bhattacheryya shared an emotional post on Instagram detailing the toll the experience took on her.

“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.

She added, “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.”