Four booked in Hyderabad student suicide case

The police on Monday registered cases against four persons in connection with the death of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the cases were booked against a Union Minister and three others, charging them with abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the IPC. Section 144 has been imposed at the University of Hyderabad campus.

Sources suggested the police had received two complaints following which the action was taken.

A two-member fact-finding team, constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has been sent to enquire into the incident.

The post-mortem was taken up at the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) mortuary amid heavy security and all the gates leading to the mortuary were closed.

People who visited the mortuary to meet the family members of Rohith were taken into preventive custody by the police.

The family members wanted to conduct the final rites of Rohith at Uppal where they have few relatives, but the police reportedly advised them to take the body to their native place in Guntur fearing trouble in the city.

In the five-page suicide note recovered from the room, Rohith had mentioned how he always “looked at the stars and dreamt of being a writer” and an established academic. The research scholar hailed from Guntur district. “His mother is a daily wage labourer with an agricultural background. His JRF fund also used to support his family,” a student leader said.

The victim was a second year research scholar of the science, technology and society studies department and also a University Grants Commission’s Junior Research Fellowship holder. The student is survived by his mother and a younger brother. In his suicide note, the student had also pointed out that for the past six months he had not got his JRF funds.

University Vice-Chancellor P. Appa Rao expressed shock at the incident. “I am as shocked and worried as anyone else,” he told The Hindu. Cyberabad police who had to rush to the campus following protests, however, did not comment on whether any case would be booked. Scores of students of the varsity laid siege to the hostel even as the Gachibowli police had to be rushed to the spot.

As per the university orders, five students, including Vemula, were denied entry into the hostel and permission to gather together following a scuffle between two students organisations — Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and ASA that took place on August 3, 2015.

SOURCE: PTI