The Telangana Police today, Friday, May 3, released a closure report of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) Dalit PhD scholar Vemula Rohith Chakravarthi, who died by suicide in 2016.
Eight long years and after an indefinite era of struggle, the report had absolved former Secunderabad Member of Parliament (MP) Bandaru Dattatreya, Member of Legislative Council (MLC) N Ramachander Rao, and former Vice-Chancellor of UoH Podile Appa Rao, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader Susheel Kumar and most importantly, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani.
The final police investigative report has been submitted to the court.
"...My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past..."
These are the lines from Rohith Vemula's suicide letter which still iterates the voice of many Dalit students in the country who remain oppressed under strict institutional regimes, and have been dismissed.
To retrieve justice for Vemula, a joint statement involving student groups from the University of Hyderabad such as the All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA), All India Students Association (AISA), Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA), Bahujan Students' Front (BSF), Dalit Students' Union (DSU), and others, along with the family of Rohith Vemula, was released today, May 3.
The statement expresses great shock and disappointment at the report published and proclaims that it replicates the narratives previously fabricated by the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Other points that the statement mentions are:
- Fabricating instances of violence
- Report made grave insinuations about Rohith's Dalit identity
- Speculations made on the reason behind suicide
- Means achieved through character assassination
Upturned narrative
The statement says that the investigative report submitted by the police portrayed Rohith and his comrades as "unruly" mobs who were prone to violent tendencies. It further stated that the report blatantly ignored the statement of the reporting Duty Security Officer, who had asserted that no physical altercations had taken place between Rohith, his friends, and the then ABVP President, Susheel Kumar.
It states that the report fails to include the counter affidavit filed by the then registrar of the university to the Telangana High Court which asserted that, "The allegation that Mr Susheel Kumar was attacked is a little overboard and the petitioner is only trying to generate sympathy of this Hon'ble Court."
The report also ignores the medical certificate issued by the medical officer of the hospital Susheel Kumar was admitted for his appendicitis operation, and not due to injuries sustained due to any alleged assaults on him.
Not a Dalit?
As per the statement, the report has selectively chosen instances supporting the larger idea that suggests that Rohith was not a Dalit. The statement alleges, "The report relies solely on the caste report issued by the Guntur Collector on 10.02.2017 and overlooks the challenge to the report by the family of Rohith."
The Guntur collector had contended that Vemula was not a Dalit since his father, Manikumar, belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC) Vaddera community, and his mother hailed from the Mala community, which falls under the category of Scheduled Caste (SC). But Vemula's mother has been long separated from her husband, and is a holder of an SC caste certificate.
The closure report also claims that the report submitted by the district collector met with no challenge when it was registered, whereas, the fact is that an appeal was filed by Vemula's mother, Radhika Vemula.
The statement also highlights the insensitivity on display, as it failed to take into account the various life experiences of being a Dalit, recorded by Rohith as well as his mother and brother.
Rohith's suicide, now a concoction of lies?
"The most cruel part of the report is where it tries to speculate reasons for Rohith's suicide. Completely absolving BJP leaders and the Vice Chancellor, the report fixes the blame for Rohith's death squarely on Rohith himself," alleges the statement.
It goes on to refute the allegations that Rohith was depressed as he could not make much progress due to his "non-academic" activities, but also, the closure report fails to acknowledge his ability to pass competitive entrance exams in two different disciplines and that he was a beholder of the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF).
The statement also discredits the mention that the former VC Appa Rao had not abetted his suicide, and there was no discontent against him. Vemula in his letter to the VC clearly said, "He (VC) is leaving self-respecting Dalits on campus with no option but to die."
The police report further fails to mention that before his suicide, his fellowship was abruptly stopped. He was also socially boycotted and was forced to sleep and find shelter in open space in the cold.
The absurdness of the police report comes forth via another point the statement says. It asserts that Rohith's alleged knowledge of him not being a Dalit and the constant threat of this exposure pushed him to the brim, as he might have lost his academic degrees and would have been prosecuted.
"There cannot be a greater insult to the life and legacy of Rohith Vemula than this insinuation. It also reveals the fact that the investigation views Dalit-ness simply as a privilege that provides an academic advantage", the statement said.
Power-play
The collective statement goes on to say that the report shields the then Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya from the repercussions of his actions, who had sent letters to then Union Minister of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Minister Smriti Irani, who pursued the expulsion of Rohith Vemula and other scholars strongly.
The report further states that the former VC Appa Rao resorted to a "lenient view" for Rohith Vemula and other Dalit scholars, but failed to take into consideration the suspension and the social boycott of five Dalit research students.
The statement asserts, "This is the first time in university history that a social boycott was given as a punishment to students with complete disregard for all the democratic values."
Appeal to the Congress Government
The joint statement exhorts the Congress party to help support their cause and appeals to them to look into the affair. They think this to be a matter of "gross injustice" as the report was published by the Telangana Police under the jurisdiction of the newly elected Congress government.
It goes on to say that previously Radhika Vemula, Rohith's mother, had joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, to show solidarity towards the cause of the Dalits in India. The Congress had also pledged to enact the Rohith Act against institutional discrimination in higher education institutes in their manifesto for the ongoing parliamentary elections.
In their joint statement, they write, "We appeal to the Congress government of the state of Telangana to ensure that justice prevails...We do not want any favour to be done, rather we appeal for a fair and unbiased investigation."
