The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday, February 26, approved the current version the draft Rohith Bill, a law to protect Dalit and Adivasi students from caste discrimination.
During the Cabinet meeting, Home Minister G Parameshwara suggested that the draft bill should go to the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE) for its suggestions.
A minister present during the meeting told TNM that once the DCRE adds it suggestions, the draft will be presented in the next cabinet meeting, which is likely to be on March 5.
Another minister said that the government hoped to table the draft Rohith Act during the budget session, which is to be held between March 6 and 27.
Both ministers confirmed that everyone in the cabinet okayed the draft Rohith Bill.
Named after Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide on January 17, 2016, the Rohith Act is aimed at addressing caste-based discrimination and harassment against Dalits and Adivasis in higher education institutions.
TNM had reported that the draft law emerged through months of intense debates and discussions between the government and campaigners pushing for the anti-caste law in the state.
Unlike the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Rohith Act is a civil law which aims to resolve cases of caste discrimination within the campus and, as far as possible, outside courts and police stations.
Higher education institutions would have to set up internal committees against caste harassment, similar to the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).
TNM had previously reported that if passed, the law will be the first official acknowledgement that Rohith Vemula was a Dalit and that he died because of caste discrimination.
A decade after Rohith’s death, the investigation into his death has gone nowhere. For most part of the last decade, during which the BRS was in power in Telangana, the state government and police took an openly hostile position against the campaigners seeking justice for Rohith, while the BJP has consistently denied that Rohith was a Dalit. But things did not improve even after the Congress came to power two years ago. The police cases against students haven't been withdrawn by the state government yet.