HCU students to hold programmes on Vemula's death anniversary

A group of students from University of Hyderabad, where Rohit Vemula committed suicide on January 17 last year, are planning to hold a 'Shahadat Din' on the first death anniversary of the Dalit research scholar.
The mass gathering, to be organised on January 17 on the varsity campus, is slated to be attended by Rohit's mother Radhika Vemula, Jaan Mohammed, brother of Mohammad Akhlaq who was lynched in September 2015 on suspicion that his family stored and ate beef at their house, and the Dalits who were thrashed by 'cow vigilantes' at Una in Gujarat last year.
On January 17, Vemula's portraits in all hostels will be garlanded and a remembrance rally will also be held, said the students, who planning a series of programmes under the banner of 'Justice for Rohit Vemula'.

They also said that they would organise a 'Mashaal Juloos' and 'songs of resistance' on the campus tomorrow.
UoH, also known as Hyderabad Central University (HCU) had witnessed sporadic protests following Vemula's death on January 17 last year. The students had demanded removal of Appa Rao Podile from the Vice Chancellor's post and had also sought his arrest.
Vemula's suicide had also sparked massive nationwide protests, resulting in a fierce political slugfest with a string of parties and Dalit organisations siding with students and accusing the BJP and varsity administration of being anti-Dalit.
Raising questions on Rohit Vemula's Dalit status, a commission constituted by the HRD ministry after the scholar's death had said the material on record did not establish it and attributed his suicide to personal reasons.

However, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Chairman P L Punia had rejected the judicial commission's report on Vemula's suicide as fake and fictitious, and said the deceased research scholar was a Dalit.