"Institution should take responsibility": Delhi High Court on suicide of Amity Law School student

The Delhi High Court on Monday lamented that the suicide of Amity law school student Sushant Rohilla in 2017 was a result of systemic failure. .A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma told the Indraprastha University, to which the Amity Law School is affiliated, that the institution should take responsibility and consider awarding compensation to Rohilla's family. “The institution should have a broader thinking. Nobody is saying that one person is responsible. There has been a systemic failure for whatever reason. If there is a systemic failure in an institution then the institution should take responsibility," the Court said.The counsel appearing for the university denied any role or responsibility in the student’s suicide. “We have seen the suicide letter, the parents had lost touch with the child. He had not blamed the institution,” he said. The Court was not impressed with the submissions.“Are you seriously arguing that?... In these kinds of cases you cannot argue in this manner. Not done. You cannot make allegations against the parents...They are suffering you are not suffering the loss of a child," Justice Singh remarked. .The Court also questioned the mandatory attendance percentage policy in graduate and post-graduate programs and reiterated that the attendance rules require reconsideration. It asked the Secretary of the Ministry of Education to hold a stakeholder consultation on whether attendance should be made compulsory in educational institutions across the country offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for the Central government and said that there is a need for a larger discussion and a committee should deliberate on this issue.The Court had raised concerns over mandatory attendance rules in colleges in the last hearing of the matter as well. .The Bench was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) initiated in the year 2017 following the suicide of Sushant Rohilla. It was alleged that he was subjected to harassment by the institution and some faculty members for maintaining low attendance. He was forced to repeat an entire academic year in the BA LLB course which allegedly led to his suicide.