On the university campus, scores of students, who intensified their protests, demanded that Dattatreya, BJP MLC Ramchander Rao, university’s Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao and two ABVP leaders, against whom cases were registered for abetting suicide of Rohit, be jailed.
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Dattetreya, who is union labour minister, had written to Irani, demanding action against “anti-national” and “anti-social” elements on the campus, which led to the suspension of the students. She merely said the ministry had no administrative control over the central universities.
Joining the students, some of the teaching faculty also demanded action against those responsible for the incident.
Expressing “solidarity” with students protesting over alleged suicide by a dalit scholar in Hyderabad, the students of FTII today sat on a day-long hunger strike outside the institute’s gate here. He was found dead hanging in his room this afternoon.
“Dalits are being discriminated in the University and the Vice Chancellor has been the main person behind the suicide of a dalit student”. A case has been filed on senior BJP leader and union minister Bandaru Dattatreya in connection with Rohith’s suicide.
In order to build up pressure over the government to sack the Union Minister, the Telangana Jagruti Yuva Morcha held protest outside Dattatreya’s residence in Hyderabad.
From July, the university stopped paying Rohith his monthly stipend of Rs 25,000 (excluding HRA), with friends alleging that he was targeted for raising issues under the banner of Ambedkar Students Association (ASA).
The detentions were made after the protest outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development turned violent as students forced their way past barricades set up by the police.
“The idea of a university is knowledge and when someone imposes one idea and tell the students that only that idea is acceptable, then it is painful”.
Vemula was among five research scholars who were expelled from their hostel on the campus of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on December 21.
People who visited the mortuary to meet the family members of Rohith were taken into preventive custody by the police.
While defending his action, the minister said he or the Bharatiya Janata Party had nothing to do with suspensions or suicide.
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The initial spark to the clash between the ASU group and the ABVP had its inception in August a year ago when in a rally, ASU condemned the ABVP’s assault on the documentary screening related to the Muzaffarnagar riots in DU. A university official denied the allegation, blaming the delay on “paperwork”.
