PHOTOCOPY KIOSK OWNER THANKS STUDENTS, TEACHERS

Dharampal

Singh Rameshwari described Thursday as the happiest day of his life, with his battle of six years finally coming to an end. Rameshwari is the photocopy shop owner at Delhi University against whom the international publishers had filed a case for selling photocopies of textbooks to students.

On Thursday, the international publishers including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Taylor & Francis, issued a joint statement and said they were not pursuing the case further.

“I am very happy. It is with the help of students, teachers and also the media that this day has come,” said Rameshwari, who has a shop in the premises of Delhi School of Economics.

In September 2016, a Hight Court single bench had allowed Rameshwari to continue selling the photocopied version of the books. So in October, the publishers had moved a fresh appeal against the verdict.

“Students came out then in my support and formed an association called ASEAK (Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge). The teachers and others formed an association called SPEAK. We fought together,” said Rameshwari. ASEAK was the third party defender in the case.

The case had started in 2012, when the publishers alleged that the photocopy kiosk was causing losses to them as students had stopped buying textbooks.