Scholars of University of Hyderabad, suspended from hostels and certain other places of the university along with Rohith Vemula before his suicide, faulted the report of the Justice A.K.Rupanwal Commission, which maintained that Mr.Vemula was not a Dalit, and called it a tool to save Union Ministers B. Dattatreya and Smriti Irani and Vice-Chancellor P. Appa Rao from the FIR registered against them under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Through a press release on Friday, four students — Sunkanna Velpula, Dontha Prashanth, Seshaiah Chemudugunta and Vijay Kumar P. — noted that the Commission did not have any jurisdiction to decide upon Mr.Vemula’s caste. The district magistrate had already decided that Mr.Vemula was SC-Mala, and the National Commission for SCs affirmed his position, they said.
Students took out a protest rally up to the main gate of the university on Friday condemning the report.
