Hunger strike rages on at DU’s Law Faculty
It has been five days since LLB students at Delhi University’s Law Faculty have been on an indefinite hunger strike against what they allege is a defective marking system.
The students have also written to the President and Prime Minister.
On Sunday, the students said, no representative from the Vice-Chancellor’s office had taken note of their demands.
On Saturday, Ved Kumari, Dean of Faculty of Law, gave the situation a turn by going on a counter hunger-strike to persuade the students into calling off the agitation. “I did try to persuade the students yesterday (on Saturday). I advised them to withdraw the strike and discuss their problems with the authority. It is not correct to unduly pressurise the authority; students should give us time,” she said on Sunday.
Earlier, the students had gone on strike when about 50 per cent of them failed in one or more subjects.
They had then demanded the restoration of supplementary exams and implementation of the re-evaluation scheme.
According to the students, there were problems with the results declared last month. Some of them had reportedly been marked absent even though they had appeared for the exam. The strike was called off after they were assured that the matter would be looked into.
Among the students who have been on strike since September 14, Mithilesh Jaiswal, Brajesh Singh and Nishant Nagarwal have been continuing the agitation, while R. Sowmyanarayan quit after being advised to do so by a doctor.
Concerns voiced
Vimal Singh, a final year student, said, “Nearly 50 per cent students failed in one or more subjects. The passing marks required are 45 while the highest is 65. If this is the situation, how will we get admission for Masters of Law (LLM), for which we require a percentage of 65. The average marks at National Law University, Lucknow, are 70 while the highest cross 90. Even public sector units accept students who have a minimum percentage of 60.”
Vivek Gupta, a first year student who failed in three subjects, said he was awarded a mere 15 marks despite attempting all five questions of 20 marks each. “There is no revaluation option available. Even though we pay for revaluation they only do a re-totalling of marks. Out of 6,000 students who appeared for the exams, 45 per cent have failed in one or more subjects,”he added.
Another first year student, Vikas Kumar, said that when the authorities were asked about the marking, the students were told that earlier gatekeepers used to check copies, but this time teachers had evaluated the papers.
This is not the first time that the Law Faculty has reported mass failure. A similar situation was reported last year as well.
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