Months after the Roopanwala Commission report on the suicide of University of Hyderabad (UoH) scholar Rohith Vemula, members of the Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samithi (KNPS) Telangana, have released a statement against it.
"We are completely against the unjust report submitted by the committee. Instead of focusing on the circumstances that led to his suicide, they concentrated on Rohith’s background. How long will the struggle for justice continue? Appa Rao Podile, the vice chancellor and all the forces in MHRD who pressurised the university into taking decisions should be punished, said Chakravarthy.” The police brutality on students and teachers also cannot be forgiven,” Chakravarthy Goud, general secretary of KPNS was quoted as saying.
Making it clear that Rohith was a Dalit, the KNPS demanded that the report be rejected, and the investigation into the case be reopened.
Rohith Vemula had committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of a hostel room in the university on January 17, 2016.
Rohith was suspended along with four other students in December 2015, after a scuffle in August that year, between students of the Ambedkar Student Association (ASA) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Rohith was a part of the ASA.
Following a huge political storm after his death, the Roopanwaala Commission had been formed by the HRD Ministry to look into the circumstances leading to Rohith’s death.
The commission claimed that Rohith was unhappy with 'worldly affairs' and his own problems, which led him to suicide.
“He was frustrated for the reasons best known to him...He also wrote that he was all alone from childhood and was an unappreciated man. This also indicates his frustration.He did not blame anybody for his suicide," the report said.
While the report did highlight that the varsity did not have a proper grievance redressal mechanism, it justified the suspension of Rohith along with others, claiming that the administration was not under any pressure.
The report also exonerates union ministers Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani, claiming that they were only discharging their duties.
The students had earlier termed the report an attempt to shield two Union ministers and the Vice Chancellor in the suicide case.