Protests at Hyderabad University after Suicide by Scholar thrown out of hostel

Mangalore Today News Network

Hyderabad, Jan 18, 2016:  There is tension at a Hyderabad university after a 22-year-old research scholar, thrown out of the hostel two weeks ago, was found hanging on Sunday evening.

After Vermula Rohit’s alleged suicide at the Hyderabad Central University, a group of students sat with his body all night, raising slogans and demanding that the authorities hear them out. A police team came this morning, arrested eight students and took away the body.

Rohit, who was completing his doctorate, had been living in a tent outside the campus gates for days, along with four others who had also been denied access to the hostel.

The five Dalit scholars, who were members of the Ambedkar union, had been accused of attacking an activist of the BJP-linked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP in August, allegedly during a protest against the execution of 1993 Bombay blasts convict Yakub Memon.

The ABVP activist had alleged he was assaulted by 30 students. The university cleared Rohit and others in an initial inquiry, but reversed its decision in December allegedly after a union minister intervened.

On December 21, the five students were allegedly barred from the hostel, the mess, libraries and other common areas. Their friends have alleged that they suffered social boycott.

According to Rohit’s friend Venkat, he was "heartbroken" that his requests for an appointment with the Vice Chancellor had been ignored even though he had been living in the open for days.

’’Even Dalit professors who came to meet us supported the Vice Chancellor rather than us,’’ Rohit reportedly told Venkat on Sunday morning. Hours later, he allegedly went quietly into a hostel room and hanged himself.

After his body was found, protests erupted on the campus and students raised slogans outside the Vice Chancellor’s office. Angry students also chased away media teams.