APSC delegation meets IIT Madras Dean

A delegation of Amebdkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) students met the IIT Madras Dean on Tuesday regarding the ban imposed by the institute on the students' body.

The talks, however, remained inconclusive and another meeting is scheduled to take place on June 5 with the board of students.

"We want to be re recognized again, it was wrong to derecognize us. We were called to explain ourselves but we've nothing to explain," said Akhil Bharat, Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle student.

Earlier on Monday, activists of the All India Students' Association (AISA), along with Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Association (JNUSU) had protested outside the offices of Ministry of Human Resource Development in New Delhi over the de-recognition of APSC.

The protestors raised slogans against the ministry for forwarding a complaint which led to the ban of the students' group.

Last week, IIT Madras had justified its decision to ban the group, clarifying that the body was merely temporarily derecognised for violating the guidelines of the institute.

The institute had earlier de-recognised the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle over an anonymous complaint to the central government that it was trying to spread hatred towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies by distributing provocative pamphlets and posters in the campus, igniting a massive controversy.

The acting director of the institute, Professor K. Ramamurthy, said the group had not been working according to the guidelines issued by the represented body.

Ramamurthy also added that the Dean of the institute has asked the students to present their stand.