Hyd Uni students burn copies of Roopanwala Commission report on Rohith Vemula

Students at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) burnt copies of the Roopanwal Commission report on Thursday, protesting against its findings on the death of research scholar Rohith Vemula. 

Accusing the report of being “illegal, mischievous and politically motivated,” they set fire to the copies, in protest.

“The report has suited the purpose of ABVP and BJP, going against the evidence available before the commission,” Dontha Prashanth, Rohith's friend from the Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) was quoted as saying.

Professor K Laxminarayana, who also addressed the protesters, said that the Commission did not carry out its task, which was to investigate the circumstances that led to Vemula’s death.

More than one and a half years after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the Ashok Kumar Roopanwal Commission report was made public last week. The commission was formed after Rohith killed himself in the university on January 17, 2016.

Though the report was leaked to the media in October last year, garnering much outrage, it has been officially released now.

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.