Hyderabad: The single-person judicial committee headed by Justice Ashok Kumar Roopanwal to inquire into events leading to the suicide by Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula in January this year at the University of Hyderabad has attributed the suicide to “personal reasons”.
As per sources, the committee has exonerated Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya in the issue and also the university authorities, including vice-chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile.
The committee held that the university authorities were not under political pressure. The judicial inquiry committee also raised questions about Rohith’s caste stating that there was no proof that his mother Radhika Vemula belonged to the Scheduled Caste Mala community.
As per sources, the committee said in its report that Vemula’s mother could have given the statement that she belonged to the Mala community just to support the caste certificate issued to Rohith.
Panel focuses on reforms, not caste
The committee noted that Rohith’s mother was not told the names of her biological parents by her foster family so it was unlikely that she would know her caste.
As the terms of reference of appointing the judicial committee did not include ascertaining Rohith’s caste, the HRD ministry has maintained that it would focus on recommendations which aim at ensuring that such incidents do not happen again.
The commission emphasised that there should be a proper counselling mechanism in the university even for research scholars and that there should be grievance redressal mechanisms and equal opportunity cells in UoH. University vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile expressed happiness over the commission’s report.
