‘The Smell Was Pungent’: How Heating A Meal Won Two Indian Students Rs 1.8 Crore In US

Last Updated:January 14, 2026, 16:17 IST

According to Aditya Prakash, a female staff member approached him and objected to the odour.

Aditya Prakash’s partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD student, supported him during the episode.

A complaint about a “pungent smell" drifting from a microwave ended in a $200,000 (around Rs 1.8 crore) civil rights settlement, after two Indian PhD students accused a US university of systemic discrimination over their food. The case centres on a 2023 incident at the University of Colorado Boulder, where Aditya Prakash, then a PhD student in anthropology, was reheating his lunch- palak paneer- in a shared departmental microwave.

According to Aditya Prakash, a female staff member approached him and objected to the odour.

“The smell was pungent, she said," Aditya Prakash later told The Indian Express. He said he was asked not to use the microwave for his food, prompting an argument over access to a common space and whose definition of “acceptable" smells should prevail.

“My food is my pride," Aditya Prakash said, arguing that ideas of what smells good or bad are culturally shaped. He said a facilities staff member later tried to justify the objection by saying even broccoli was restricted because of its strong odour.

“Context matters," Aditya Prakash said, adding, “How many groups of people do you know who face racism because they eat broccoli?"

What began as a dispute over a smell soon escalated. Aditya Prakash’s partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, also a PhD student, supported him during the episode. The couple allege that this led to retaliation: repeated meetings with senior faculty, claims that a staff member felt “unsafe" and what they describe as a hostile academic environment.

Urmi Bhattacheryya said she was later dismissed from her teaching assistant position without explanation. The department, the couple allege, also refused to award them master’s degrees that PhD candidates typically receive en route to completing their doctorates.

That refusal proved to be a turning point. Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacheryya filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for Colorado, arguing that the reaction to the “pungent" smell of Indian food reflected deeper systemic bias against international students and created conditions that harmed their academic progress.

In September 2025, the university agreed to settle the case, paying the couple $200,000 and conferring their master’s degrees. As part of the settlement, however, both have been barred from future enrolment or employment at the university.

Urmi Bhattacheryya recently revealed the settlement in a widely shared Instagram post, describing the case as “a fight for the freedom to eat what I want". She wrote about enduring health issues and what she called an erosion of her self-respect during the dispute, adding, “I will not be humbled by injustices. I will not be silent."

News world ‘The Smell Was Pungent’: How Heating A Meal Won Two Indian Students Rs 1.8 Crore In US

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