EAM Jaishankar voices concern over rising deaths of Indian students in US: ‘Some were murdered over personal issues...’

Expressing concern over the frequent deaths of Indian students in the United States, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said all the cases were not interlinked. He further stressed that the issue is a big concern for the Indian government. 

“Obviously, in every case, wherever anything unfortunate has happened to the students, it is of great tragedy for the family, and a big concern for us… but our embassy or consulate has looked at every case and they're unconnected," S Jaishankar told reporters. 

In the wake of the rising number of similar incidents, embassies have been instructed to keep in touch with students and communicate with them to warn them about dangerous areas of cities to avoid, said Jaishankar. As nearly 11-12 lakh Indian students continue to live in various countries, student welfare is very important for India, Jaishankar noted.

 “Student welfare is very important. As I said, every Indian going out, you have Modi's guarantee. Student welfare is particularly important for us,” the minister stated.

11 Indian students die in US in 2024

As many as 11 students have died in the US so far under different circumstances this year. While a few deaths have been identified as murder, some were said to happen under suspicious circumstances.

A few days ago, the Indian government identified the deaths of Indian students in the US as ‘multi-casual’, and cited "some community issues’ among the Indian students living in the United States. 

While referring to the recent incident of the death of two Indian students in the US as ‘unfortunate’, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on April 12 said investigations are underway into the matter. 

While talking about the frequent cases of deaths in the US, Jaiswal said, “Several of these deaths have not happened because of one reason. They are multi-causal in nature... There are some community issues also... We also have a large Indian student community, upwards of 300,000 in the United States.”