Telangana Government Seeks Reopening of Rohith Vemula Suicide Case
Legal Action on Rohith Vemula's Case
The government of Telangana has formally requested the High Court to reopen the investigation into the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a scholar from the University of Hyderabad. This announcement was made by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka during a press conference held in Delhi.
Vikramarka, representing the Congress party, emphasized that the government is committed to holding accountable all individuals implicated in the case.
He also criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for appointing N Ramchander Rao as the new leader of its Telangana unit, noting that Rao was previously named as one of the accused in the original investigation concerning Vemula's death.
“This indicates that those who oppose Adivasis and Dalits are rewarded by the BJP,” Vikramarka stated. “The BJP owes an apology to the nation. Is targeting Dalits a qualification for leadership?”
Rohith Vemula, a PhD candidate at Hyderabad Central University, tragically took his own life on January 17, 2016. In his suicide note, he expressed feelings of discrimination and harassment based on his caste.
At the time, Vemula was actively protesting against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the BJP, and the university administration, which had barred him and four other Dalit students from accessing their hostels and public areas on campus.
As a prominent member of the Ambedkar Students Association, Vemula's death ignited widespread protests and a significant movement against caste discrimination in higher education. Following his passing, law enforcement initiated a case of abetment to suicide, applying charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.
In May 2024, eight years posthumously, the Telangana Police submitted a closure report asserting that Vemula did not belong to the Scheduled Caste category and suggested that he died by suicide out of fear that his true caste would be revealed.
The report further claimed that Vemula's family had falsified their caste certificates. However, the family insists that Rohith's mother is a Dalit Mala by birth and was adopted by a woman from an Other Backward Classes community.
The closure report also exonerated several individuals, including the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, MLC N Ramachander Rao, University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor Appa Rao, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and the Minister for Women and Child Development.