‘Rohith Vemula not Dalit’: Police close death case, give clean chit to accused

Mangalore Today News Network

Hyderabad, May 03, 2024: The Telangana Police filed a closure report, concluding its probe into the death of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad. Vemula had ended his life in January 2016.

 

The police’s investigation suggests that Vemula’s suicide was driven by the fear of his true caste being disclosed, as he identified himself as belonging to the Scheduled Caste category. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in 2015 wrote to the Ministry of Human Resource Development about "casteist, extremist, and anti-national politics" in the university, leading to accusations of abetment to suicide.

The report absolves former Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and BJP leaders, including the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister Smriti Irani, former MLC N Ramachander Rao and ABVP leaders.

Then union minister Bandaru Dattatreya wrote to the human resource development ministry about “casteist, extremist and anti-national politics” in the university, sparking accusations of abetment to suicide.

The police, in its report submitted to the court, mentioned that Rohith Vemula was aware that he did not belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and that his mother got him an SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears, as the exposure of the same would put him to the loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution, the report said.

The report also mentioned that Vemula had multiple issues which could have driven him to end his life.

The police said that no evidence could be found to establish that the actions of the accused had driven Vemula to kill himself.

Vemula’s brother, Raja, called the police claims "wrong" and said that they would seek help from Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.

"It is absolutely wrong, a police officer cannot decide on a person’s caste. We are going to meet Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday. We will file a protest petition and other options will also be taken up," Raja Vemula said.

Courtesy: India Today