Students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Saturday morning decried the functioning of the varsity, alleging that the authorities removed the tents put up at the protest venue following Rohith Vemula’s suicide.
The students also alleged that the university "desecrated" a banner of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Angry students stated that they would not let the university function on Saturday.
"Though students have seen the security staff cutting down the tent with their own eyes, the security in-charge claims that he knows nothing about the theft of the tent and the loot of JAC material including Babasaheb's banner and flexes," the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice said in a Facebook post.
The incident allegedly took place in the middle of the night between 12 am and 1 am, with students gathering at the gate at 2 am.
This comes a week after the Vice-Chancellor, Appa Rao Podile, sent a notice to the student union president asking them to remove all the tents at the shopping complex in the campus which were put up following Rohith Vemula’s death.
Though these tents were put after Rohith's suicide on January 17, the ‘Velivada’ enclosure, or Dalit colony, was put up in the shopping complex by the five Dalit students, including Rohith Vemula, who were protesting their earlier suspension.
Following Rohith's death, the other students continued to stay in the Velivada as a mark of protest.
The students also went on to burn the VC's notice and alleged that they were being forcefully evicted from their hostels and that the administration had removed all graffiti and posters put up by students in the name of maintenance and renovation.
At the time of writing, students alleged that the security was forcefully trying to disperse the crowd that gathered at the gate and refused to hold talks with the JAC.
They also said that they plan to file a police complaint later in the day under a section of the SC/ST Atrocities Act.
The students have also uploaded a video.