Ayush belongs to SC community, IIT Delhi Director Confirms; Students demand Investigation

While the institute is desperately asking for suggestions and ideas to improve the support system of IIT Delhi, several associations are seeking a probe into the matter demanding justice for Ayush Ashna. Ashna died by suicide by hanging in his hostel room, according to the investigation reports and as stated by the institute itself. However, no suicide note was found in his room.   

The death of Ayush Ashna has become a question on the system of many top institutes. Students and associations are agitating that it wasn’t a suicide but a murder as Ashna belonged to a marginal community. The Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Delhi director Professor Rangan Banerjee said that the deceased BTech student Ayush Ashna belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which has intensified the institute’s pain. While the institute is desperately asking for suggestions and ideas to improve the support system of IIT Delhi, several associations are seeking a probe into the matter demanding justice for Ayush Ashna. Ashna died by suicide by hanging in his hostel room, according to the investigation reports and as stated by the institute itself. However, no suicide note was found in his room.   

While Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA) had asked students to gather around the Main Gate of IIT Delhi at on July 13, 2023, Thursday, at 7 PM for a candlelight vigil demanding Justice and seeking for probe against the Institutional murder of an “Adivasi student AYUSH ASHNA” in IIT Delhi. Another students’ group alleged that the students of IIT Delhi are “apathetic” to Ashna’s death and that the institute tried to suppress his details. The students in a letter have made the following demands:

• IIT Delhi along with the SC, ST cell should form a committee to investigate the reasons behind Ayush’s death. The committee must come up with recommendations.
• The committee should assess the process of grading in the mathematics department of which Ayush was a part. Steps taken by the institute when students including Ayush got an F grade.
• A meeting should be held for BTech students to express the pressures faced by them and changes should be made in the exam process, schedules, and placements.
• Monitoring and sensitization of faculty.
• Steps taken for the welfare of SC, ST students, improvement in drop-out rates, composition of SC, ST students and faculty.

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