No one to blame for Rohith Vemula’s death: Centre

His suicide was “wholly a decision of his own” and that evidence indicate he is not a Dalit, says Justice Roopanwal Commission report.

Activists hold a photo of Rohit Vemula who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University during a candle light march. (File Photo)

The Central government is of the view that no action is required against anyone in the Rohith Vemula suicide case, as the Justice AK Roopanwal Commission report on the incident has concluded that no one was responsible for the death of the University of Hyderabad (UoH)research scholar.

In its action-taken report on the Justice Roopanwal Commission report – tabled in Parliament as the monsoon session ended – the Human Resource Development Ministry said, “No action required, as the Commission is of the view that there is no evidence of any fact or circumstance available on the record which dragged Shri Vemula to commit suicide and no one is responsible for his death.”

After the deposition of multiple stakeholders, the commission said in the report, “My view... is that the suicide did not relate to any activities of the university administration or political leaders. It was wholly a decision of his own. His suicide note... shows that Rohith Vemula had his own problems and was not happy with worldly affairs. He was feeling frustrated for reasons best known to him.”

 

Justice Roopanwal also said that the evidence on record indicated that Vemula belonged to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category rather than being a Scheduled Caste.

The action-taken report, however, says that it will implement the recommendations of the commission on steps to be taken to ensure such incidents do not happen in future.

Its recommendations include: the university should evolve a mechanism where students can appeal in case there is an excess in the university; counselling centres with professionally trained counsellors should be set up; monitoring committees headed by supervisors be set up to provide guidance on matters related to subjects studied by students; equal opportunity cells headed by anti-discrimination officers be made functional, etc.

The action-taken report says: “Agreed. The University Grants Commission has been requested to issue suitable instructions/guidelines to all the central universities, including University of Hyderabad.”