Inconclusive meeting as APSC makes five demands to IIT Madras

Inconclusive meeting as APSC makes five demands to IIT Madras
Inconclusive meeting as APSC makes five demands to IIT Madras
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 After a highly charged day which saw police detain protestors outside the IIT Madras campus, a meeting between members of the de-recognised Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle(APSC) and the institution's Director-in-charge remained inconclusive.At the meeting, members of APSC have been asked to present themselves before a Board of Students( BoS), comprising all deans of IIT Madras and some students to discuss the issues on June 5th.However, APSC members say that they have not decided on further course of action. “When they de-recognised us, they did not enquire with the BoS, rather we were given a single email,” said Akhil Bharath. Now they ask us to present ourselves before the Board, he said. The group has put forward five demands.Re-recognising APSCUnconditional apology from the Dean (Students) for misuse of official powerOverturn the undemocratic code of conduct which is against Article 19(A) of the Constitution of IndiaOfficially recognise all independent student bodies and allow them to express their social, economic and political views.Provide democratic spaces and equal privileges like hall, IITM official mail account, permanent study-cum meeting room, space in IITM official domain for all independent student bodies.However after the demands were made, Akhil said that the Director-in-charge did not take any concrete move but said that all decisions would be made in the upcoming BoS.Earlier, APSC members held protests inside the IIT campus on Tuesday morning. “Our immediate demand is for the ban to be revoked” Azar, an IIT student and a supporter of APSC said,“We want all student bodies to have equal priviledges within the institute. Different student bodies have different priviledges inside the institute and we want equal rights". The students chanted slogans demanding an unconditional apology from the Dean. It is not just students in IITM who are protesting the move. Students of Law College, Madurai, boycotted classes for the second day today as a sign of protest against the de-recognition of the APSC. In addition to boycotting classes, they also blocked the road in front of the district court, affecting traffic on the busy stretch for more than an hour. The students in Madurai called the move “an attack on the freedom of expression” and demanded that it be revoked immediately, reported The New Indian Express.  In addition to the students, the lawyers who practice at the Madras high court's Madurai bench also staged a protest on Tuesday, demanding immediate removal of the derecognition of the APSC by IITM.As many as 60 lawyers gathered in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the court premises and raised slogans against the IIT-M management condemning the move.Read APSC protests even as IIT Madras closes its gates on media 

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