University of Hyderabad Students Intensify Protests Over Rohith Vemula's Death Report
HYDERABAD: University of Hyderabad (UoH) students announced plans to intensify their protests in response to the final police report on Rohith Vemula's death, which cleared several key figures including former vice chancellor Podile Appa Rao and politicians Bandaru Dattatreya, Smriti Irani and N Ramachander Rao of wrongdoing.
The report has sparked outrage among the student community and activists. A student delegation is likely to meet Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday at his residence on the same.
Critics of the report claimed it misrepresents key evidence and communications between the university and the Union ministry of human resource development (MHRD), which they argued influenced the harsh disciplinary actions against Vemula, ultimately leading to his death in 2016.
"Moreover, the report attempts to undermine Vemula’s Dalit identity by suggesting he falsified caste documents, a claim hotly contested by his family and supporters," said one of the students who partook in the protest walk outside the university's main gain on Friday night.
The report also suggested Vemula's suicide was the result of personal academic failings and political distractions, ignoring his written complaints about caste discrimination. This portrayal has been widely condemned as an attempt to deflect blame from systemic issues within the university and the role of high-ranking officials and politicians in exacerbating the crisis.
The students at the press conference voiced their disappointment and vowed to escalate their protests if justice is not served, reflecting a deep-seated frustration with the ongoing struggle against caste-based discrimination in educational institutions across India.
