November 3 marked a year of the suicidal death of Aishwarya Reddy, a II year student of the University of Delhi's Lady Sri Ram College for Women. Five days later, the college's SFI unit staged a protest in front of the college, asking the administration to revoke its hostel policy. Last year, the Students' Union and the SFI had claimed that the policy that mandated second-year students to vacate the hostels was one of the reasons behind Aishwarya's family's financial strain, which eventually led to her suicide.
Apart from that, the students also said that the second-year students should only be asked to pay the tuition fee and shouldn't be subjected to other payments. "Therefore the students who have already paid the full fees must get a refund," reads a statement by the SFI. They also demand free scholarships for needy students and hostels for all students, among other things. They also asked the administration to intervene with the Department of Science and Technology to release Aishwarya's pending scholarship amount.
"One year has passed since the student body raised numerous demands for the college authorities to address the issues faced by the students regarding online classes. Yet there has been no concrete mechanism set up by the college. Other of our demands also remain unfulfilled. Hence we request the student body of LSR to once again rise in rage and fight for our demands to be heard and accepted," reads a statement by the SFI.
After Aishwarya's death, the college had said that it will review its hostel policy. At the same time, a survey by the student's union said that Aishwarya had no access to a laptop or stable internet connection.
