Six deaths of Indian students in the US in a month: Is safety a concern?

The American Dream is inviting. Every year, hundreds and thousands of Indians migrate to the United States. It’s also a preferred destination among Indian students. But now and then, questions arise: How safe is the country for desis? 2024 has started on a rather sombre note. There have been at least six deaths of Indian or Indian-origin students over the past few days. What’s behind the deaths? The death of Shreyas Reddy Beniger The latest incident was reported on Thursday. Shreyas Reddy Beniger , a student at the Linder School of Business in Ohio, died. Authorities have ruled out any foul play or a possibility of a hate crime in the case. The Indian-American student was found dead in Ohio, the Consulate General of India in New York said on Thursday. “Deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of Mr. Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, a student of Indian origin in Ohio,” the Consulate said in a post on X. “Police investigation is underway. At this stage, foul play is not suspected,” the Consulate added, without divulging any further details of the incident. The Consulate is in touch with Benigeri’s family and is extending all possible assistance to them, it stated. The relatives in India have been informed and his father is reportedly travelling to the US.

Deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of Mr. Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, a student of Indian origin in Ohio. Police investigation is underway. At this stage, foul play is not suspected.

The Consulate continues to remain in touch with the family and is extending all possible…

— India in New York (@IndiainNewYork) February 1, 2024

Five deaths of Indian students in January The tragedy comes within weeks of the deaths of five other Indian students. Earlier this week, Neel Acharya who had been missing in the US was confirmed dead by university authorities. The news came on Tuesday, a day after his mother had taken to social media to request information about his whereabouts. A computer science and data science student at Purdue University in Indiana State, Acharya had been missing since 28 January, according to a post on X by his mother Goury Acharya. He was seen when dropped at the institute by an Uber driver. Purdue University said that Acharya was confirmed dead, without divulging the cause of death. It said that a “college-aged” man matching Acharya’s description and carrying his ID was found dead near the Maurice J Zucrow Laboratories on the campus at about 10.30 am on Sunday (28 January). [caption id=“attachment_13681862” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Neel Acharya who studied at Purdue University was found dead on the campus. Image courtesy: LinkedIn[/caption] The most horrific death was that of Vivek Saini . A resident of Haryana, he died after he was hammered 50 times in Georgia’s Lithonia on 16 January. The 25-year-old was pursuing an MBA and worked part-time at a convenience store that sheltered a homeless man Julian Faulkner. Saini had reportedly given the man chips, water and even a jacket. On 16 January, the student refused to give Faulkner free food, which led to the attack. The 53-year-old assailant has been arrested. [caption id=“attachment_13681882” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The murder of Vivek Saini was caught on camera installed in the store. Image courtesy: X[/caption] Another Indian student Akul Dhawan, was found dead outside the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) earlier in the month, according to a report on NDTV. The autopsy of the 18-year-old suggested that he died from hypothermia. However, his parents have filed a complaint, accusing the university’s police department of negligence and inaction after Akul was reported missing. “This is bizarre, that a kid is never found who was just less than a block, like one minute away, sitting there, dead, frozen to death,” his father Ish Dhawan was reported as saying by the publication. Two Indian students were found dead under suspicious conditions at their Connecticut accommodation on 15 January, reported PTI. G Dinesh (22) was from Wanaparthy in Telangana and Nikesh (21) was from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. The duo had gone to the US for higher education nearly a month ago. Their families do not know how the students, who were roommates, died. Dinesh’s kin was reportedly trying to seek help from the Union government to begin an enquiry into the matter. The deaths in the US The deaths of Indian students in the US continue to grab headlines back home. Last year saw the most number of murder-suicides in the community, among the most successful diasporas in the US, according to a report in The Times of India. Two of the most shocking cases were the deaths of two students – 24-year-old Varun Raj Pucha and a 23-year-old Indian woman, Jaahnavi Kandula . Pucha was attacked at a fitness centre in Indiana with a knife by a fellow gym-goer who found “him weird”. In September last year, India called for a probe after footage of a Seattle cop laughing and joking about Kandula, who died after she was hit by a speeding police vehicle. The mishap occurred in January and months later a video emerged of the officer saying that the woman’s life was of “limited value” and that the city of Seattle should write a cheque. Statistics reveal that as many as 403 Indian students studying abroad have died since 2018. Of these 36 were reported in the US, the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V Muraleedharan told the Rajya Sabha in December 2023. The reasons include natural causes, accidents and medical conditions. However, Indian students do face racism and have in the past become victims of hate crimes. The safety of Indian students A study from 2017 showed that Indian students in the US have a “high level of concern” and a large number of them worry about their physical safety and about the feeling of being unwelcome. The survey conducted by The Institute of International Education (IIE), a US-based non-profit, suggested that Indian students “have a high level of concern about potential study in the United States, 80 per cent of institutions responded that physical safety was the most pronounced concern for Indian students, while 31 per cent of institutions indicated that feeling welcome was also a concern”. The study warned that the concerns may lead to some Indian students accepting admission offers from other leading host countries. [caption id=“attachment_13681952” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A student reads on the campus of Columbia University in New York. In a 2017 survey, Indian students said they were concerned about their physical safety in the US. File photo/Reuters[/caption] For those, who have been brought up in the US, the discrimination begins from school. Young Indian Americans regularly face racial and ethnic discrimination as early as preschool, which influences the development of their identities, said another new study from 2022. Second-generation Indian-American adolescents are “especially vulnerable to discrimination as they explore and form their identities”, according to the study by Texas A&M University School of Public Health. In September 2022, Hindu organisations raised alarms about a rise in hate crimes against the community. According to the FBI’s report, the US saw 25 anti-Hindu hate offences in 2022, a jump from 12 in 2021. In 2020, there were only 11 “anti-Hindu bias” hate crimes. The allure of the US The IIE survey earlier warned that Indian students may not continue to grow as the second-largest international group in higher education. But desis continue to flock to the US. The number of international students in the US grew by 12 per cent in the 2022-23 academic year, the largest single-year increase in more than 40 years, according to findings from the State Department and the IIE. There was a 35 per cent jump in students coming from India , according to data released in November 2023. American colleges enrolled nearly 269,000 students from India, more than ever and second only to China. Most came for graduate programmes, often in science, technology and business. [caption id=“attachment_13681902” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Students walk across the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In the academic year 2022-23, there was a 35 per cent rise in the number of students going to the US from India. File photo/AFP[/caption] “The US maintains a strong relationship with India on education, which I think is getting even stronger and even more connected,” Marianne Craven, the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for academic exchange was quoted as saying by PTI. While studying in the US opens a window of new opportunities, safety is a growing concern. With inputs from agencies