Taking inspiration from the Rohit Vemula movement, "the Students' Union has decided to continue its struggles and go for a sit-in protest at the Velivada, North Shopcom, where Rohith Vemula and others had led the struggle against the autocratic administration," stated the Hyderabad Central University Student Union in its statement released today, Wednesday, June 26.
This follows after the HCU, also known as the University of Hyderabad, refused to accept students' demands to revoke the suspension orders of the students. Earlier, the administration of HCU suspended five students, including HCUSU President Ateeq Ahmed for staging a protest in front of the guest residence of Vice-Chancellor Prof BJ Rao, in response to the cancellation of the varsity’s annual festival Sukoon in the early hours of May 18.
Urging all students to join the protest in large numbers and fight against the autocratic administration of Vice-Chancellor BJ Rao, the union said, "Students, unite! Fight for your right to free speech!
#StandWithUoHStudents"
Along with Ahmed, the remaining suspended students are the Students' Federation of India (SFI) Secretary and former student union general secretary, Kripa Maria George, and other members of the federation: Asika VM, Sohel Ahmed, and G Mohit.
As reported earlier, a statement by the Public Relations Office released stated that when the students protested at the residence, it was akin to a house arrest. The statement further went on to say that the VC and his family, including his elderly mother, were “subjected to mental torture”.
Reiterating this, the university says that the students had to be removed through police intervention as they refused to vacate the premises despite appeals from senior university officials, including the Dean of Students' Welfare.
