Palak Paneer Dispute: Indian Students Win Rs 1.66-Crore Settlement From US University

What seemed like a minor incident escalated into a full-blown controversy over reheating Indian food at the University of Colorado Boulder, with the latter reaching a $200,000 (Rs 1.66 crore) settlement with two Indian PhD students — Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacharyya.

The students filed a civil rights lawsuit that began with a dispute over a lunch of palak paneer.

The incident happened when Aditya Prakash, an Indian student studying in the Anthropology Department for a PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder, was heating his lunch of palak paneer at a microwave in the department when a female staff member came to him and complained about the 'smell' and told him to not use the microwave to heat his food.

The smell was pungent, she told him, according to Prakash. However, he stood his ground and firmly told her that he is heating just the food and leaving, in an incident that happened in September 2023, reported The Indian Express.

His partner, Urmi Bhattacharyya, also a PhD student, claimed she faced pushback after supporting Prakash, including losing her teaching assistantship without warning.

Both Prakash and Bhattacharyya filed a civil lawsuit alleging that after the kitchen dispute, the university withheld their Master's degrees, which they had earned en route to their PhDs. They further alleged that they were subjected to a hostile environment that hampered their academic progress. The lawsuit argued that the university's reaction to their cultural food was a manifestation of deeper "systemic bias" against international students.

In September 2025, the University of Colorado Boulder settled with Prakash and Bhattacharyya, paying the two $200,000, (Rs 1.66 crore) conferring on them Master's degrees. However, the two have been barred from future enrolment or employment at the university.

This month, Prakash and Bhattacharyya have since returned to India.