Azim Premji University slammed for denying deceased was part of hunger strike

BENGALURU: As the protests at Azim Premji University (APU) continue, students have hit out at the management for alleging that Abhijit Shinde, the student who had collapsed and passed away last week, was not part of the protest.

Students have been protesting for the last few weeks, demanding a waiver to the shuttle fees imposed by the university on first-year postgraduate students who live off campus. On February 22, the students began a hunger strike against the university, continuing to demand a waiving of the fees.

On February 24, during a college festival, Shinde collapsed and was pronounced dead while taking part in a group performance. Following this, allegations had begun flying around on whether Shinde’s death was caused due to the protest and hunger strike. 

Students, alongside several student organisations, had alleged that his death had been a cause of the management’s failure to recognise their demands. However, the university, in a statement, denied that Shinde was part of the protest post February 22. He had left the protest on the evening of February 22, which means on February 23 and 24, he was not in the protest being observed by a small group of students, they said. The students have hit out at the university for denying that Shinde was part of the protests.