Telangana News

To probe the circumstances that led to the suicide of HCU student Rohith Vemula, Ministry of Human Resource Development has set up a judicial commission in January. The findings from that probe have proved that Rohith belong to Vaddera community that comes under OBC category, but not SC community and so was not a dalit.

Reportedly, former Allahabad High Court judge A K Roopanwal, appointed by former HRD minister Smriti Irani, has submitted his report to the University Grants Commission (UGC) this month, in which he made these observations.

However, this report was denied by Rohith’s brother Raja, stating that their family “lived like Dalits”. Adding to it, Justice Roopanwal’s report was also denied by Guntur District Collector Kantilal Dande’s report that was submitted to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), which showed that Rohith indeed was a Dalit.

NCSC chairman PL Punia supported Dande, opining that there was no need for a new commission. Not stopping there, he even blamed the BJP for its ‘anti-Dalit mentality’ claiming the party wanted to protect its ministers at any cost.