‘Ayush belongs to SC community’, says IIT Delhi director; students demand probe

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Delhi director professor Rangan Banerjee said that the deceased Btech student Ayush Ashna belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which has intensified the institute’s pain. In an email, the director asked for suggestions and ideas to improve the support system of IIT Delhi. Ashna died by suicide by hanging in his hostel room.

“I write to you with deep grief. Ayush Ashna’s death has shaken us all and made us think very carefully about our institutional life, our campus, and the systems we have in place. The loss of a young member of our community pains us all immensely and this is intensified by the fact that Ayush belongs to the SC community,” the IIT Delhi director wrote.

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Professor Banerjee added that the institute commits to put stronger measures in place to help prevent such losses in future. “We are open to suggestions and ideas from you to enhance our support systems,” he added.

The students had planned a protest and are doing a candle march today from the Red Square of IIT Delhi to Ganga Dhaba of JNU, demanding justice for Ashna.

IIT Delhi Student Death: Students to hold candle march

Meanwhile, a students' group of IIT Delhi called the student’s death an “institutional murder” and IITs as ‘graveyards”. The group informed that Ashna was a final-year student of the mathematics department and could not achieve the grades required to graduate.

THE INSTITUTIONAL MURDER OF AYUSH ASHNA

A statement by concerned students of IIT Delhi @iitdelhi @iitdaa @VoiceofIITD @iitd @AppscIITb @appsciitgn @ChintaBAR @HindustanTimes @NewIndianXpress @careers360 @the_hindu @IndianExpress @ndtv pic.twitter.com/TTMuOEeLXE

— IITDforJustice (@IITDforjustice) July 13, 2023

“We must refuse to let these institutes run normally until there is a complete revamping of the institutional machinery of grades, CGPA, and placements that is devaluing and crushing the lives of students. In an environment where students already come from unequal backgrounds of caste, class, regions and linguistic backgrounds, this machinery rewards the “fittest”, further pushing the marginalised students to the bottom of the hierarchies even within the institute, forcing many to drop or take their lives,” the group said in a statement.

It alleged that the students of IIT Delhi are “apathetic” to Ashna’s death and that the institute tried to suppress his details. The students made the following demands:

• IIT Delhi along with the SC, ST cell should form a committee to investigate the reasons behind Ayush’s death. The committee must come up with recommendations.
• The committee should assess the process of grading in the mathematics department of which Ayush was a part. Steps taken by the institute when students including Ayush got an F grade.
• A meeting should be held for BTech students to express the pressures faced by them and changes should be made in the exam process, schedules, and placements.
• Monitoring and sensitization of faculty
• Steps taken for the welfare of SC, ST students, improvement in drop-out rates, composition of SC, ST students and faculty