The Telangana government has filed a legal note to reopen the Rohith Vemula suicide case, state’s deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said.
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“We have already filed a note in the High Court asking the court to give direction to reopen the case. And we will not leave anybody involved in the case,” Vikramarka said.
He was speaking in a press meet held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in New Delhi on the appointment of Ramchander Rao as Telangana BJP president.
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Rao, an MLC then, was one of the accused named in the Rohith Vemula suicide case.
“It (the appointment) shows that whoever goes against Adivasis and whoever goes against Dalits will be rewarded by the BJP,” Vikramarka alleged. “The BJP has to apologise to the nation. Is targeting Dalits the qualification for you (BJP) to appoint as president,” he sought to know.
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Rohith Vemula, who identified as a Dalit, a research scholar in University of Hyderabad, died by suicide 2016, leadings to country-wide protests against caste discrimination in higher educational institutions.
Shortly after his demise, a case of abetment of suicide and charges under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, was filed against the then Vice Chancellor Apparao Podile, then Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, then MLC N Ramchander Rao, and then university students Krishna Chaitanya, N Susheel Kumar and N Diwakar. Eight years after his demise, in May 2024, Telangana police filed a closure report in the case absolving all the accused in the case. The closure report also said that Rohith Vemula was not a Dalit but an OBC.
The deputy chief minister also said that on the call given by Rahul Gandhi, Telangana government will enact Rohith Vemula Act meant to curb discrimination in educational institutions. “We are on the job and we have given it to the legal department to vet it properly and thoroughly so that it will not face any sort of (legal) challenge in the future,” Vikramarka said.
Calling Rohith Vemula’s suicide an institutional murder, Vikramarka added, “A youngster, who had reached the level of PhD… A youngster who had dreams of living and leading a colourful life had gone to the extent of taking a decision of ending his life. Just think, why are these kinds of things driving them to take the extreme step? Is it not an institutional murder?”
