UOH students to mark a year of Vemula death

STUDENTS OF University of Hyderabad (UOH), Dalit associations, right activists, lawyers and families of those who faced discrimination and violence will gather on the UOH campus to mark the first anniversary of the death of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar who committed suicide on January 17 last year.

However, the university administration said that the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (JAC) had not sought permission to hold the event on the campus.

UOH spokesperson Prof Vipin Srivastava said the university did not receive any application from the, JAC seeking permission for the programme.

“They have not sought any permission, so there is no question of denying it. If they apply, we will take a decision on it. It has to be a collective decision of the university,’’ he said.

JAC coordinator Nikhil Cariappa said that if the university administration prevents them from entering the campus, they would force their way in.

The event will be attended by Rohith’s mother Radhika Vemula; Jaan Mohammad Saifi, brother of Mohammad Akhlaq who was lynched by a mob in Dadri on suspicion of storing beef at home; Fatime Nafees, mother of missing JNU student Najeeb; Piyush Sarvaiya, whose brother Lallji Sarvaiya was burnt alive by an upper caste mob in 2011 in Una, among others.

The JAC said that January 17 would be marked as Rohith Vemula Shahadath Din.