The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The indefinite hunger strike started by three students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune entered its third day as they demand the reinstatement of a student who was allegedly removed from the 2020 batch, the Indian Express reported.
The protesting students have received FTII Students’ Association’s support while 43 students of the 2020 batch have also boycotted their classes, according to the Indian Express.
The institution’s administration has maintained that the student was asked to repeat a semester for having a ‘poor academic record’ and ‘very low’ attendance, a Times of India report said. But the students claimed that there are discrepancies.
The protesters told TOI that the student had been undergoing treatment for mental health issues since the past year and was unable to attend all classes.
“He completed his assignments and got more than 50% marks. But the problem with our credit system is that the marking system has a component for ‘attendance’. Since he was on leave, he lost marks. If someone is unwell, the institute should consider the medical records of the student and grant him concession instead of harassing him,” one of the protesting students told TOI.
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The institute’s registrar, Sayyid Rabeehashmi told TOI that the student was given an option to join the junior batch as he did not have enough credits to move ahead and recorded just 30% attendance.
The report also said that the institute’s students have been demanding that the administration establish a mental health cell, a students’ grievance cell, and an SC/ST cell but with no effect. “Even now the student’s medical certificate and documents are being heavily scrutinised and his psychiatrist is being questioned without consent putting the patient-doctor relationship in jeopardy. The administration refuses to listen or respond to us. They are harassing the student by making him repeat the semester on a supernumerary basis,” another student told TOI.
Rabeehashmi maintained that the institute values the overall health of students. “There are three doctors (a psychiatrist, a modern medicine practitioner, and an ayurveda practitioner) and a psychologist on the panel of the institute, for students. They visit the campus regularly and are available 24×7,” he said.
Meanwhile, the student body is steadfast in their resolve. “We are demanding that the student’s expulsion be revoked without any discriminatory conditions, that the third semester start from the beginning and that disciplinary notices given to protesting students by the proctor be revoked,” Atharva Karvekar of FTII Students’ Association told Indian Express.