21-year-old Sushant Rohilla would have been a fourth year student at Amity Law school (IP) had he been allowed to give his semester end exams.
Sushant hanged himself to death on 10 August, a step that friends and family say was a result of Amity’s arbitrary system of attendance and detention.
On Tuesday, students and alumni of the college stood outside the gates of the Noida campus demanding justice for Sushant. They want authorities to acknowledge the part they played in the tragedy, and to resign immediately.
What drove this boy to take a step as extreme as this?
For Students, The College is Entirely at Fault
Amity Law School is affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, a fact that has led to much of the administrative mix up, said a student present at the protest.
In May, Sushant was reportedly told that he would be debarred from appearing in his exams due to his inability to fulfill the 75% attendance requirement but he could still progress to the next year. It was only in July that he was told that he would be detained for the entire year.
The decision comes as a shock because it was both arbitrary and discriminatory. Sushant had a foot injury due to which he could not attend classes. I know people who have lesser attendance than him, who were allowed to sit for exams.An ex-student of the college told The Quint
Both Amity college and IP University have indulged in a blame game, passing the buck on to each other.
While the college blames the university for its regressive attendance norms that are merely enforced by the college, protesting students said that the university had forwarded Sushant’s examination admit card to Amity.
The Quint reached out to an ex-student who provided a public document that seems to show that the onus does lies with the college.
“His name appears in the IP university list, which means from their end he could give the exams. But his admit card was withheld in college by Professor Isheeta Rutabhasini, something that’s been done to many students in the past,” she said.
Students named two people in particular, Mr BP Sehgal and Ms Isheeta Ritabhashi, who they claim have exercised dictatorial powers over the students in the past.
These two people hold all the power in college and take arbitrary decisions. They threaten students saying ‘tumhaari degrees humaare haath mein hain’ (your degrees are in our hands). There have been instances of them taking out their personal vengeance against students, harassing them over attendance.A student present at the protest told The Quint
Sushant, on 11 May, had also sought last minute help from the Founder President of Amity University, Mr Ashok Chauhan, writing him an email, which did not receive any response.
The student body on Tuesday issued a statement blaming the college administration for Sushant’ s death.
This callous approach by Founder President, Director Sehgal, and harassment by the examination in charge, Professor Isheeta Rutabhasini; their failure in prevention of the mishap; and recognizing the gravity of the incident has forced the students to erupt in an unprecedented revolt. The students are demanding resignation of Director, Prof. B.P. Singh Sehgal, and Prof. (Ms.) Isheeta Rutabhasini in the light of written complaint received from several students citing instances of harassment and mental torture and also for their irresponsible behavior and administrative incapability.
Students have also alleged blatant apathy by authorities towards the entire incident.
“When the news of suicide was supplied to the Director of college, BP Singh Sehgal, he laid no importance to it, and in fact said: ‘it is part and parcel of life; it can happen to anyone’. He also refused the students’ demand to suspend classes and allow them to attend the cremation of their friend,” the statement added.
The Quint emailed the college authorities for a comment, to which we received no reply.
Sushant’s Suicide Not an Isolated Case
“Sushant’s case is not a stand alone case. What this has done is unite all the students who have been getting harassed at the hands of the authorities for years now. Ex-students have taken to social media to give detailed accounts of their past harrowing experiences,” a visibly perturbed student told The Quint.
Alumni of the college have taken to Facebook, penning down their stories of alleged mental torture by the administration, on a page called ALSD Alumni Against Atrocities.
Besides the fact that they did not have any kind of redressal mechanism in college, the students said they had no one to take their complaints to either.
“If we even request, forget demand, the need for a student union, we are threatened saying our admits cards will be withheld. It’s disgusting, to say the least,” a student told The Quint.
Remembering Sushant
“He was funny and we used to play Pokemon Go together,” Sushant’s sister Mehak Rohilla told The Quint.
He is remembered as a generous, helpful and extremely hard-working student by many of his friends.
“He was a guy who hardly ever complained. Sushant limped his way around college when he should have been on bed-rest,” Siddhant Bajaj, his friend said.
Sushant was fond of watching Suits, All India Bakchod videos and often took to Facebook to assert his opinions on topical issues.
Students present at the protest said they could never imagine him taking a step like this.
“He was more popular than several other students combined. He headed the debating society, he organised moot court sessions in college, ran around getting sponsorships,” a student told The Quint.
“You might already know how meritorious he was. But more than anything else, he was a brilliant human being. Students who have passed out even five years ago know and remember him,” she added.
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
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