By Ajay Tomar
On 17 January, well-wishers quietly observed the eighth death anniversary of Rohith Vemula — the suspended University of Hyderabad (UoH) research scholar whose death by suicide alleging caste discrimination had caused a national furore.
It has been eight years as well since an FIR under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for abetment to suicide was filed by four other research scholars — Dontha Prashanth, Vijay Kumar Pedapudi, Seshaiah Chemudagunta, and Sunkanna Velpua — who were suspended by the UoH along with Rohith Vemula.
The case, which was filed against the then UoH vice-chancellor P Appa Rao, also named former BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao and two students: Susheel Kumar and Krishna Chaitanya, both members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
However, South First has learnt that no charge sheet has been filed in the case to date — primarily because the Guntur district’s collector’s office still has not provided Vemula’s caste certificate, which would help determine his Dalit status.
On the other hand, two cases were filed by the UoH and by ABVP leader Susheel Kumar’s mother against the suspended students and/or the members of the varsity’s Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA).
According to the lawyer of the suspended students, Jai Bheema Rao, while the case filed by Susheel Kumar’s mother was in the Telangana High Court, the case of SC/ST atrocities and abetment of Rohith’s suicide was still “under investigation”.
‘Investigation stalled’
Bheema Rao told South First, “All the accused in the SC/ST atrocities case had approached the Telangana High Court as they alleged that Rohith did not belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. Those caste petitions are pending.”
Rohith’s brother Raja Vemula told South First the family had submitted caste certificates and other relevant depositions to the Guntur collector’s office a couple of years back.
Bheema Rao pointed out that the Guntur collector had conducted an “exclusive inquiry” into the matter and examined all related evidence.
It should be noted that the Guntur collector-cum-magistrate initially issued an SC certificate to Rohith, which was later contested and put on hold. As a result, a re-inquiry was initiated into the matter.
“It was found that Rohith belonged to the SC community; now that has to be declared by the authorities. I don’t know what is preventing the district collector and revenue authorities from passing the order now,” said Bheema Rao.
He said that all of Rohith’s family members and witnesses had been examined. But the complainants and their witnesses were not coming forward.
“Still the collector is entertaining them and keeping the matter in abeyance,” said Bheema Rao, adding that it is a “strategic step” by the authorities.
This story was originally published in thesouthfirst.com. Read the full story here .