The death of an 11th student from India this year has that community talking and taking extra safety precautions.
Indian Express reported earlier this month that 25-year-old Mohammad Abdul Arfath was found dead after being missing since last month. The discovery of the body of a Cleveland University master’s student stunned a community already shaken by the previous deaths.
The number of students from India studying abroad in the United States is expected to almost quadruple by the end of the decade. There were an estimated 267,000 students from India studying in the U.S. in the 2022-23 school year.
“We avoid going out after dark. We have identified places in the city that are unsafe in the evenings. What else can we do?” Sushil, an Indian national student at Washington University in St. Louis told the BBC.
Police found Washington University student Amarnath Ghosh fatally shot near campus in late February.
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So far there has been nothing to connect all the deaths.
The cause of Arfath’s death has yet to be released. The others have died of shootings, kidnappings, carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and suicide, reported India Today.
“It’s important to not fall into the trap of building an overarching narrative that it’s happening because they’re Indians,” said associate professor Sangay Mishra of Drew University. “I haven’t seen anything which suggests that these are cases of racial hostility or attacks based on race.”
However, during a recent meeting at the U.S. Capitol held by Rep. Shri Thandar (D-MI), many brought up concerns about rising Hinduphobia in this country. Others elsewhere have discussed the toll this has taken.
“It’s become clear that international students are increasingly facing mental health issues which are a combination of immense financial pressure and academic pressure to keep up their level so that their visa status is not affected,” says Rajika Bhandari, a New York-based education expert.
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