How a palak paneer smell led Indian students get nearly Rs 1.8 crore compensation from US university

An Indian student at the University of Colorado Boulder and his partner have received $200,000 in a legal settlement after a campus staff member objected to the “smell” of Indian food being heated in a shared microwave. The university also agreed to confer Master’s degrees on both students, while denying any wrongdoing, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The settlement, reached in September 2025, closes a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacheryya. The couple alleged that a small incident involving Indian food led to months of discrimination, harassment and retaliation by the university.

It started with palak paneer

The case traces back to September 5, 2023. Aditya Prakash, then a PhD student in the Anthropology Department, was heating his lunch, palak paneer, in a campus microwave.


As the food warmed, a staff member approached him and objected to the smell. According to The Indian Express report, she said the food smelled pungent and asked him not to use the microwave.

Prakash refused to back down. “It’s just food. I’m heating and leaving,” he told the staff member.

Meetings, complaints and ‘systemic racism’

After the microwave incident, Prakash says the situation escalated quickly. He claims he was repeatedly called into meetings with senior faculty and accused of making staff “feel unsafe”. Complaints were also filed against him with the Office of Student Conduct.

“The department also refused to grant us Master’s degrees that PhD students are awarded enroute the PhD. That’s when we decided to seek legal recourse,” Prakash said, describing what he called “systemic racism”.

Partner also faces fallout

Prakash’s partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD candidate at the same university, says she faced similar treatment soon after.

Two days after the palak paneer incident, she invited Prakash to speak in her class on ethnocentrism about his experience. He did not name anyone or share specific details. Even so, Bhattacheryya claims she began facing discrimination herself.

She says her teaching assistant job was taken away without warning. Later, when she and three other students brought Indian food to campus, they were accused of inciting a riot.

Bhattacheryya linked the atmosphere to the broader political climate at the time. She said the discrimination was subtle but constant.

“The message wasn’t always explicit, but it was there: you are here conditionally, and you can be made to feel that very quickly,” she said.

Taking the legal route

In May 2025, the couple filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

The lawsuit alleged that after Prakash raised concerns about “discriminatory treatment”, the university “engaged in a pattern of escalating retaliation”.

The case ended in September 2025 with a settlement. The university agreed to pay $200,000 and award Master’s degrees to both students, while barring them from future enrolment or employment. The university denied any liability.

No return to the US

By the time the settlement came through, both Prakash and Bhattacheryya had decided not to return to the United States.

“Going back would mean re-entering the same system, with the same visa precarity. I don’t see myself going back,” Prakash said.

Now starting afresh in India, he added, “If this case can send out a message that this (‘food racism’) cannot be practised with impunity, that we, as Indians, will fight back, that would be the real victory.”

University responds

In a statement to The Indian Express, 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. CU Boulder remains committed to fostering an inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff.”