A legal settlement from September 2025 went viral online due to its unusual focus—palak paneer. The University of Colorado Boulder agreed to pay $200,000 after two Indian PhD students, Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacharyya, sued the university for discrimination related to South Asian food smells. The trouble began on September 5, 2023, when Prakash heated his Indian lunch and came into conflict with staff. The students filed the lawsuit in May 2025, claiming a hostile environment and discrimination. Their case was supported by 29 peers. The lawsuit also alleged that the university retaliated by removing their teaching duties and withholding degrees. In the settlement, the university agreed to pay $200,000, grant the students their Master's degrees, and bar them from future ties with the university. However, the university denied any wrongdoing. The story sparked many reactions online. One user on X said, "Courts awarded two foreign nationals 200,000 USD because they were offending people at their university by microwaving their food, what a joke." Another commented, "They don’t need future enrolment and employment after winning $2,00,000😂" While a third remarked, "look at the leftie / conglus in the replies saying how they shouldn't have heated up palak paneer, mind you, in the campus microwave. basically brown sepoys telling them to swallow systemic racism because now they've 'ruined it for all'." The case highlights tensions about cultural food practices on campus and the broader issue of discrimination.