New Delhi, Jan 19, 2016 (PTI) : The HRD Ministry today rejected allegations that it had put any pressure on the University of Hyderabad in the matter relating to the suspension of a dalit student, who committed suicide on Sunday.

After it emerged that the Ministry had sent five letters including four reminders to the University regarding the August 17, 2015 letter written by Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, it said it was only following the procedures.

"It would be wrong to say that the Ministry has put any pressure on the Hyderbad University. The Ministry had only followed the procedure as per the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure.

"According to the procedure, if there is a VIP reference, it has to be acknowledged in 15 days and another 15 days may be taken to reply to it. Since no response was coming from the University, the Ministry had to send reminders," HRD Ministry spokesperson Ghanshyam Goel said.

Seeking to justify the Ministry's action, officials said that even in Cabinet meetings the Ministry is supposed to provide all details about pending assurances, VIP references, grievances etc.

According to sources, the Ministry had sent its first letter on September 3, 2015 to the University, and reminders were later sent on September 24, October 6, October 20 and November 19.

Officials said that the University finally replied on the matter on January 7.
Dattatreya had written a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani after a clash between two student groups in the campus in which an ABVP leader Susheel Kumar was attacked.

Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar, who committed suicide on Sunday night, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the University in August last year over the alleged assault case. They were also kept out of the hostel.

The issue took a political turn with allegations that the extreme step taken by Rohith was a result of discrimination against dalit students at the behest of Dattatreya, following his letter to Irani, seeking action against their "anti-national acts".

Rohith was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room in the campus on Sunday, triggering protests from fellow students this morning.

Dalit student's death: Protest escalates, Rahul visits campus

Hyderabad, Jan 19 (PTI): Protests escalated today over the alleged suicide by a dalit research scholar with activists of a local outfit demonstrating outside the residence of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who has been accused in the case, demanding his immediate resignation.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the University of Hyderabad and interacted with students over the issue even as several students in campuses outside the state came out of classes in solidarity with their counterparts here.

The activists of TJYF (Telengana Jagruti Youth Front), a cultural outfit headed by TRS MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, raised slogans outside the house of Dattatreya at Ram Nagar here and blamed him for the death of PhD scholar Rohit Vemula, who was found hanging in his hostel room on Sunday, triggering angry reactions.

Holding placards, the protestors demanded that the minister should resign immediately.

"Thirty seven of the protesters were taken into preventive custody when they held a dharna near the Union Minister's house," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) V B Kamalasan Reddy said.

They were later let off.
On the university campus, scores of students, who intensified their protests, demanded that Dattatreya, BJP MLC Ramchander Rao, university's Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao and two ABVP leaders, against whom cases were registered for abetting suicide of Rohit, be jailed.

Raising slogans like "We want justice", they held Dattatreya and others responsible for Rohit’s death and took out a rally on the campus.

Resignation of the Vice Chancellor, immediate revocation of suspension of the four students by the university, employment to a member of Rohit's family, an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh were among the other demands made by the agitators.

Rohit was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the university in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader.

Earlier Report

Kejriwal terms scholar's suicide 'murder of democracy'; Digvijay asks students to unite

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday described the suicide of the Hyderabad Dalit student as "murder of democracy, social justice and equality".

"It's not suicide. It's murder. It's murder of democracy, social justice and equality. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji should sack ministers and apologise to the nation," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

"(The) Modi government (is) constitutionally duty bound to uplift Dalits. Instead, Modi ji's ministers got five Dalit students ostracised and suspended."

Rohith Vemula, a second-year research scholar of science, technology and society studies department at the University of Hyderabad, was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in the New Research Scholars' Hostel late on Sunday.

He was one of the five Dalit students suspended and expelled from the hostel for staging a protest on the campus for the past 15 days.

Digvijay asks student wings to unite

New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI): Attacking the government over the alleged suicide of a dalit scholar in Hyderabad, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today charged that vice chancellors have been handpicked by the BJP-RSS and asked student wings to come together to fight the "communal forces".

"This is only a beginning.Vice Chancellors have been handpicked by BJP-RSS. They would be interested to promote ABVP rather than Academics. All Student Wings must come together to fight communal forces on the Campus", the party general secretary said in a series of tweets.

He alleged that the suicide by Rohith Vemula reflected the mindset of the BJP against dalits.

"Dalit students were protesting against an abusive posting against dalit students on social media by a ABVP activist. Even after they were found not guilty by the Enquiry Committee...Partisan attitude of VC and Minister Bandaru Dattatreya led to expulsion of Dalit Students," Singh, who is in charge of party affairs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, said.

The University of Hyderabad campus yesterday witnessed widespread protests after the dalit student's body was found hanging in a hostel room on Sunday.