Hunger strike by DU law students seeking postponement of exam enters day 2

NEW DELHI: The hunger strike by a section of Delhi University's Faculty of Law students entered its second day on Sunday with students saying there has been no response from the department or the university over their demand for postponement of their examination. Students claimed as many as 50 students are on hunger strike in the faculty.

The students began the hunger strike on Saturday demanding postponement of their examination while contending that their syllabus has not been completed. "Today is the second day of the hunger strike. No official has shown up. We have not received any communication from the authorities. Around 50 students are on hunger strike," Shakti Singh, a second-semester student at the Law Faculty, said. The protesting students of the second, fourth and sixth semesters also demanded changes in the date sheet to ensure a sufficient gap between the two papers. The students of Campus Law Centre (CLC), and Law Centre I and II are holding the protest. They claimed their syllabus has not been finished and online classes are still underway but the exams are scheduled from August 10.

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"We will continue with the hunger strike until our demands are met. A few students' blood pressure has gone down. But we are not ending the strike till the administration postpones the examination," Swapnil, a law faculty student, said. Several students sat on dharna and held placards that read: 'Don't play with our careers' and 'We are humans not machines'.

Meanwhile, Dean of Examination DS Rawat has said the academic calendar was issued before the start of the semester and it mentioned the date of the examination. "The university provides the academic calendar and the department prepares the date sheet accordingly. The date sheet of the PG courses is decided by the department. The role of the department is to check if they have followed the academic schedule issued by the registrar," he said.