A dispute over heating lunch in a shared microwave led to a federal civil rights case in the United States and a settlement worth Rs 1.8 crore.
In 2023, Indian PhD student Aditya Prakash was warming palak paneer at the University of Colorado Boulder. A staff member objected to the smell of the food and told him not to use the microwave.
Prakash replied that he was only heating his food and leaving. The incident did not end there.
According to the couple, Prakash was later called into multiple meetings and accused of making staff members feel unsafe.
His partner, Urmi Bhattacheryya, who supported him during this period, said she was removed from her teaching assistant role without any explanation.
The couple also said the university did not release the Master’s degrees they had already completed. They stated that the campus environment changed after the incident. The case was later reported by The Indian Express.
In 2025, the couple filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging racism presented as institutional policy.
The case ended in a settlement. The university agreed to pay $200,000, which is about Rs 1.8 crore. The Master’s degrees were awarded. Under the terms of the settlement, both were barred from future enrolment or employment at the university.
In an Instagram post, Bhattacheryya said the outcome set a precedent against discrimination related to food practices in Western institutions.
