Hyderabad: UoH V-C Prof. Appa Rao Podile has said that he would consider other suggestions of the UoH teaching faculty only after the agitation is totally called off and peace is totally restored in the university.
UoH Teachers Associ-ation, meanwhile, has rejected the V-C’s feelers to engage in talks with the agitating students.
While issuing a statement regarding conditional termination of punishment of the students the V-C said, “Other observations and suggestions from the teachers will be taken forward using internal mechanisms and within the limits of the university, after the agitation is called off completely and complete peace is restored in the campus.”
A member of SC/ST Teachers Forum, who did not wish to be named, said they gave a list of demands to the V-C while tendering resignation to administrative positions.
They sought constituting a judicial inquiry with a retired judge having members of various SC/ST commissions as members, financial compensation to Rohith’s family, withdrawing all cases against students, and they also asked V-C to meet the victim’s family as well as agitating students.
University sources pointed out that the V-C tried to reach out to the UoH Teachers Association and SC/ST Teachers Forum to resolve the present crisis. He wanted the UHTA to engage in talks with the agitating students, which found no takers from the teachers’ body. UHTA was never consulted when action was being initiated against students, the teachers argued.
Include HRD Minister’s name in FIR: Students
Hyderabad: Students want the Gachibowli police to name Union HRD minister Smriti Irani in the FIR on Rohith Vemula’s suicide. Her involvement in Rohith’s suspension is apparent now, the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, which is leading the students protest, said.
Police officials said they were not ready, and the inquiry was still on. Legal experts said that if the students can secure a favourable order from the court, the police will have to include Ms Irani’s name in the FIR.
Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by seven students entered the second day on Thursday. The students — G. Prabhakar, Uma Maheshwar, K.P. Manojan, Vaikhari Aryat, K. Krishnayyar, Jai Rao and T Ramesh — belong to different student unions.
The students said that apart from the demands made by the JAC, they wanted a law to protect students of marginalised backgrounds from discrimination in universities.
The JAC has sought compensation and a house for Rohith’s family and a job for his kin, revocation of suspension of the four dalit scholars, criminal proceedings against officials named in the FIR on Vemula’s death, among others.
