In the row over the suicide of student Sushant Rohilla at Amity Law School Delhi (IP), its director Prof Dr BP Singh Sehgal and political science professor Dr Isheeta Rutabhasini have both resigned.
A university spokesperson confirmed the development and said that the reason for their resignation was “considering the sentiments and emotions of students”.
We have not been able to get through to Sehgal or Rutabhasini at the time of publication and are awaiting a full statement by the university.
Update 19:45: One student who wished to remain anonymous, commented: “It was imperative that they resign. This is merely the first step and there is still a long way to go in getting justice for our friend along with ensuring that that changes are brought to the college so that no other student ever has to face such apathy and arbitrariness.”
Update 22:08: Read the fact-finding committee report here.
Students and alumni of Amity Law School, affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (GGSIP) University, as well as members of Rohilla’s family have been protesting on social media (and some on campus) about his suicide, claiming that the university was insensitive towards his plight and inflexibility in its attendance policies.
Criminal complaint filed against college by family
The family has lodged a criminal complaint with the police against the college on 17 August, said Sushant Rohilla’s uncle, Dinesh Rohilla, who is an advocate also running for election at a Delhi bar association. However, no first information report (FIR) has been registered to date.
“They [Amity] constituted a committee regarding this incident and today they have given the result that 2 have resigned,” he commented, adding that this had happened only on account of pressure from protesting students and media, and perhaps also the pressure of the police complaint the family had filed.
“We are gathering more documents,” added Dinesh Rohilla, regarding the complaint. “Students are coming forward on their own and we are getting emails with Sushant, in which sometimes serious concerns we found.”
We have reached out to Amity for comment on the complaint.
Bigger picture: Attendance system opaque
However, students concerns in their protests have been wider than just this specific case, which was just one example of the arbitrary rules at the university.
"The attendance policy that exists in our college is very very opaque and vague,” one student told us on condition of anonymity, echoing concerns of others spoken to. “There’s a general arbitrariness that exists in the system and not for others.”
While formally the GGSIP-stipulated attendance requirement was 75%, with a 5% discretion given to a college’s director, in practice many Amity Law School (IP) students did not make this requirement said the student.
“There’s a requirement for 50% of attendance, over which they’d consider extracurricular activity,” said the student, adding that the system was “not documented, but just circulated through word of mouth” by faculty. For extra curricular activities (or so-called “on-duty (OD) attendance"), there were no clear rules for what could be counted and how many hours could constitute.
Unlike at Amity University’s law school, which was on the same campus, there was also no electronic system for checking attendance at Amity Law School (IP) in real time, which meant that most students were left to guess at whether they made the cut or not.
University released some attendance records
The university released at a Wednesday press conference a notice dated 11 May, showing the names of 19 students who were also detained along with Sushant Rohilla, who was listed with a “physical attendance status” of 42%.
Somewhat strangely, all 18 other students also detained on the list had ranges of physical attendance statuses of between 9% and 45%.
When asked why not a single student out of the more than 1,000 students in five years seemed to have had attendance between 45% and 75%, according to the list, the Amity spokesperson said: “There is no student who is short of 75% and who has been allowed to write the exam.”
She also added that Rohilla’s actual physical attendance had only been 29%, which was raised to 42% with “OD” attendance for his extracurricular activities. “He had just participated in one moot court,” she said.
She did not respond to queries on whether there was an unwritten policy at Amity (IP) that 50% attendance and above allowed students to claim OD attendance, and declined to release full records of every student’s attendance (though added that these could be obtained from GGSIP University under RTI).
The Amity fact finding committee report
Director BP Singh Sehgal’s bio
According to the university website, the now-resigned Sehgal took over as director in April 2013:
Prof. (Dr.) BP Singh Sehgal took over as Director of Amity Law School, Delhi in April 2013 after working for almost two years in the office of Vice Chancellor, Amity University (UP) as OSD to VC
Prof. Sehgal superannuated from University of Jammu after serving there for more than 35 years in multifarious capacities including Dean Academic Affairs, Chief Coordinator for Offsite Campuses of the University; Director, Directorate of Distance Education; Director, The Law School; Head of Law Department; Dean of Faculty of Law; Director, Youth Welfare; Director Legal Aid Clinic, etc.
He participated in various international programmes, and attended Conference of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development in 1984, international conference on Terrorism organized by International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies, 1955, international conference on Human Rights and Role of Mass Media by International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies, 1995; participated in International Centre for University Human Rights Teaching, 16th Session, 1988 Strassbourg, France; awarded Fellowship for attending the 19th Study Session on Human Rights by International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France, 1988, awarded Fellowship for internship at International Committee for Red Cross at Geneva (Switzerland), 1988, selected for participation in The Hague Academy External Programme 1990, presented a paper in International Symposium on Victimology at Brazil 1991, participated in Asian Development Bank Funded IUCN/APCL/UNEP Programme on Capacity Building for Environmental Legal Education in the Asia-Pacific Region at National University of Singapore, 1998 and also delivered lectures in the Faculty of Law, Nepal in 2011.
Prof. Sehgal has worked at various United Nations Peace Keeping Missions. He was Legal Officer and was responsible for Civil Registry Department in newly created country, East Timor in the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) during the first democratic elections in 2001. He further supervised the Presidential elections in Afghanistan during 2003-05 and worked as International Registration Supervisor, Provincial Training Officer and Field Coordinator in United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
Prof. Sehgal has organized various National Seminars, authored/edited 7 books and published more than 50 research papers on various social legal aspects in national and international journals.
Prof. Sehgal was a member of Editorial Board of prestigious Journal of Indian Law Institute, 2003 and Kashmir Journal of Legal Studies. He also remained an advisor to Union Public Service Commission, Uttarakhand Public Service Commission, J&K Public Service Committees, Life Member of Indian Institute of Public Administration and a member of academic bodies of various Universities.
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first
"most sought after law schools"? Are they kidding me?
Ummm... Ok Mr. Rohila got his attendance for the moot, but some reports suggest that he had some leg injury due to which he could not attend college. I have been noticing colleges including NLU's like Amity, GNLU, NLIU and HNLU (especially GNLU and NLIU) who do not give attendance on medical grounds!! Is that a norm now? Attend college no matter what state you are in? It is sickening to imagine people with injuries attempting to attend college. Is this a BCI rule or an arbitrary college rule?
If he had genuine medical grounds, he ought to have been given grace attendance on that basis. I understand all who claim to have medical grounds may not be genuine, but till what extent does a college verify? I had an NLIU student intern and the intern sadly told me that the college has no respite on medical grounds and no grace and some marks for attendance too!! That is very sad and not advantageous for someone who is sick!! Is anything going to change in legal education? Whether an Amity or an NLU... point is, rules need to change on genuine causes!!
If you're absent for 365 days of the year, on legitimate medical grounds, should you be given attendance? If not, then where do you draw the line?
Think about it.
I am at a loss of words when things like these happen. It is during times like these that I sympathise with the plight of teachers. It is so easy to demonise them.
I wish one of the media houses had the spine to run with the real story and present the facts as facts. How many days did the deceased take leave due to the medical condition? What was his medical condition? What is the general prescribed period for which bed rest is suggested? Was the deceased actually on leave due to the medical condition or was it a fake medical certificate? (I know loads of people in my batch who easily procure and submit fake medicals for family events, vacations, internships etc.) ? How many moots did he attend? Is there any pattern in the classes which he has missed? What was his attendance record in the previous years? Is there any possibility that the detainment was due to some tiff with any teacher?
Basically the facts, the real facts. Media houses should not be emotion fuelled propoganda machines just for the sake of maintaining viewerships. Everyone has already heard what the friends are saying. It is obvious what any friend would say. That is why we need mediahouses. Facts. Clear facts.
Also, the pointing at medical grounds is in vain. BCI/UGC - one of those, not sure which - mandates that medical grounds can only be considered till 67%.
www.goldenpeacockawards.com/leadershipawards/leadershipwinner14.html
So Amity is clearly an award winning institution.
Golden Peacock Award is not easy to win!
Checkout all the other Golden Peacock winners and you will know how similar they are.
Birds of the same (peacock) feather...
Or as some reporter said, pure poppycock.
1. Refer to the email written to Chauhan from Sushant
2. Ask whether Chauhan sent any reply at all
3. Was Chauhan questioned by the Committee at all, or were they shaking in their boots because Chauhan has been able to defy even an international red corner notice by ensuring the Indian administration is kept in good humour?
rti.india.gov.in/cic_decisions/AD-18082009-01.pdf
4. Ascertain what Amity's past record has been on relaxing attendance for students who have medical complaints.
indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=39734
How is the campus? Who is the VC? How is the faculty? These are some important questions.
www.telegraphindia.com/1160822/jsp/nation/story_103744.jsp#.V7sSnvl97IU
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first