One more person at Hyderabad Central Univeristy – staff member – has accused Vice Chancellor Appa Rao of being casteist.
As protests by students and human rights activists continue all over the country against the university authorities for allegedly abetting the tragic suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, the university’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) too has accused Rao of casteist discrimination.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Ravinder Kumar has claimed that he was ignored by the Vice Chancellor of the university as he too was a Dalit.
Kumar told The News Minute, ''Around 7:15 pm on Sunday I called VC Appa Rao to inform him about Rohith's suicide as it is protocol to inform the VC first, but he didn't answer. What he did was text that he will call me once he is free but till date I haven't received his call.''
He said that this was typical of how the VC always treated him. "VC always ignored me as I am a Dalit. And for the same reason the administration didn't show me Susheel's medical report. Instead of showing me they took him to some private hospital."
He said that according to university protocol, if something happens to a student, they should first be brought to the chief medical officer or at least the report of the examination should be sent to him first. “But nothing came to me as I am a Dalit,” Kumar said.
On Sunday, Rohith hanged himself from a ceiling fan in one of his friends’ hostel rooms. He had been expelled from the NRS Hostel on December 16 along with three other students. Since then, they were sleeping in the open on the campus itself, and were later joined by other protesting students as well.
Following the suicide, politicians from all over the country and party lines have flocked to the campus and have condemned the incident criticizing the university authorities.
On Tuesday, VC Appa Rao was booked along with five others including union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya for abetting Rohith’s suicide.