Honestly, I've seen many posts about the hatred towards him because he apparently 'provoked' Andy to respond to Armaan.
I don't think that's the case. Apurva was telling him to respond on his face so that he won't bother him again. That's normal. Andy was being picked on by Armaan all day, Armaan said it himself when he had calmed down, and Apurva was just telling him to stick up for himself!
Back in school days we were always taught that if someone is bullying you stick up for yourself, 9 times out of 10, they'll back off. I see no difference in this case.
Apurva was just trying to build Andy's confidence considering he was distressed by Armaan's constant name calling.