Scholar’s suicide rocks university
CASE BOOKED AGAINST UNION MINISTER, VICE-CHANCELLOR AND OTHERS AMID STUDENT PROTESTS IN HYDERABAD
As the suicide of a research scholar at the Central University of Hyderabad sparked protests by students, and tension gripped the campus, police booked a case against several people, including Union Minister of State Bandaru Dattatreya.
Tension gripped the campus on Sunday evening, after Rohit Vemula, a 25 year old Dalit research scholar, was found hanging in a hostel room.
Vemula was one of the five students and activists of Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) who were expelled from the hostel following a clash with supporters of ABVP, the students’ wing of the BJP.
University closed
Police Inspector from Gachi Bowli Station, Jupally Ramesh, said a case was booked on a complaint lodged by a student named as Ramesh.
The university’s vice-chancellor P. Appa Rao, and two leaders of ABVP and BJP Youth wing are also facing charges in the case.
The other two people against whom the case was booked are Sushil Kumar of Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Vishnu of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch, students and youth wing of the BJP.
The university remained closed yesterday as the agitating students called a strike to protest the incident.
As a precautionary measure, additional police officers were deployed to the campus.
Vemula was a second year scholar of science, technology and society studies and a junior research fellow under the University Grants Commission. He aspired to become a writer. Since the university expelled them from the hostel and imposed restrictions on their moving around together on campus on December 21, a large number of students under the banner of Joint Action Committee for Social Justice were agitating on campus.
The five students had gone on an indefinite hunger strike on Sunday last, demanding the lifting of the restrictions imposed on them.
The aggrieved students had also filed a petition in the Hyderabad High Court against the vice-chancellor’s action.
Found hanging
“We were eagerly waiting for the court verdict when this tragedy hit us”, said C. Seshaiah, another student who was expelled from the hostel.
Eyewitnesses said after spending the day at the hunger strike camp, Rohit was not seen in the evening. Even his mother could not contact him over the phone following which a friend Vijay went searching for him. He found the 25-yearold hanging in one of the rooms of the New Research Scholars hostel. Vemula used the banner of ASA to hang himself from the ceiling fan.
As news of his suicide spread, a large number of students gathered at the campus shouting slogans against the vice-chancellor, the leaders of the BJP and its affiliates, blaming them for Vemula’s death.
Police were called in to control the situation after students Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya has denied that a letter written by him to the Union Minister for Human Resources Development Smriti Irani prompted the suicide by a scholar at the University of Hyderabad.
Dattatreya told journalists the incident had nothing to do with the letter. His reaction came after Hyderabad city police booked a case of abetting the suicide against him and three other people.
Students have blamed Dattatreya for the incident, pointing out he had written a letter to Smriti Irani, leading to action against five Dalit students including Rohit Vemula who hanged himself. Dattatreya said he had written the letter to the HRD ministry saying some antisocial elements were disrupting peaceful atmosphere of the university. attacked university officials and security personnel who had rushed to the scene of the suicide.
Police moved the body to the mortuary of Osmania Hospital for post-mortem with a lot of difficulty at around 3am yesterday, after Vemula’s parents reached the campus.
Until then, the students did not allow the police to touch the body, demanding the immediate sacking and arrest of the vice-chancellor.
Tension also prevailed at the Osmania Hospital where hundreds of students had gathered.