Rohith Vemula death: Telangana Police say he was not a Dalit, gives clean chit to all accused

Rohith Vemula

The Telangana Police on Friday filed a closure report in the case of the death of University of Hyderabad (UoH) PhD scholar Rohith Vemula. Vemula died by suicide in January 2016.

The closure report submitted by the police absolved the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, Member of Legislative Council N Ramachander Rao, Vice Chancellor Appa Rao, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leaders and Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani.

The death of the 26-year-old Dalit student on January 17, 2016 triggered a nationwide agitation against casteism in institutions of higher learning. Protests erupted on the campus a day after his death and spread to as far as the national capital, where the Modi government was forced to deny allegations of being anti-Dalit.

However, the closure report stated that Vemula committed suicide as he was stressed out for several reasons, including non academic activities as well as his mother arranging a fake Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate from him.

“If the studies of the deceased were seen, it appeared that he was involved more in student political issues in the campus rather than in his studies. He discontinued his first Ph.D after pursuing it for 2 years and he joined another Ph.D which also did not progress much because of non academic activities,” a News18 report quoted the police report as saying.

“In addition to this, the deceased himself is aware that he does not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears as the exposure the same would put him to loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution,” the police report read further.

"Truth prevails," said BJP leader Amit Malviya on X as, as he shared the details on the closure report.

In 2022, Rohith's mother Radhika Vemula had walked with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi briefly during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

“Extended solidarity to Bharat Jodo Yatra, walked with Rahul Gandhi, and called upon Congress to save Constitution from BJP-RSS assault, Justice for Rohith Vemula, passing Rohith Act, increasing representation of Dalits, oppressed sections in higher judiciary, education for all,” Radhika Vemula tweeted after the meeting.