University of Hyderabad students stop staff from entering building
Protesters ignore appeal, insist on vice chancellor's resignation.
Hyderabad: Unrest continued in University of Hyderabad on Friday as the university filed a police complaint against the students protesting on Rohith Vemula issue under the banner of Joint Action Committee for Social Justice.
The protesters blocked the administrative building in the morning and did not let any staff member enter.
The protesting students demanded that the Vice Chancellor of UoH, Prof Appa Rao Podile should resign from his position.
The university in a media release said that security was called in to remove the students and Registrar of the university also appealed to the protesting students which did not amount to any success. After this the Registrar filed a police complaint at Gachibowli police station. However, the students left administrative building around 2.30pm.
The university which came under criticism from various sections for prohibiting entry of outsiders including media, politicians and members of students organisations in the university campus said in a release that, “the current restriction on entry in to the campus of those who are not members of the university is unprecedented but had to be imposed temporarily under the present difficult circumstances when we are trying to get back to normalcy and want to ensure that the semester examinations are held as per the schedule.”
PIL filed against VC
Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao has moved a PIL before the Hyderabad High Court urging the transfer of Prof. Podile Appa Rao as UoH vice-chancellor for allegedly being responsible for the death of research scholar Rohith Vemula in January 2016.
Questioning the Centre for permitting Prof. Appa Rao to resume charge, Mr Rao told the court the V-C was accused No. 1 in a case registered under various sections of the IPC and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The MP alleged that the reason behind his return was to fill up posts at University of Hyderabad with the kith and kin of Central ministers. He said if Prof. Appa Rao was allowed to continue, the selection process would not be fair, and deserving SC, ST, BC and minority candidates would lose an opportunity.