Latest news with #Vemula
Indian Express
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
After Rahul Gandhi's nudge, Rohith Vemula Bill likely during Karnataka legislature's Monsoon Session
After a nudge from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a Bill named after Rohith Vemula, the Dalit PhD scholar who died by suicide in 2016, is on the anvil in Karnataka to prevent discrimination against students in institutes of higher education in the state. The Karnataka Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice)(Right to Education and Dignity) Bill, 2025, is expected to be tabled in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the legislature. The Bill aims to 'prevent exclusion or injustice and to safeguard the right to education and dignity for the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minorities and to provide equal access and right to education in all public or Private or Deemed Universities established in the State of Karnataka'. Offence under the legislation, as per the draft accessed by The Indian Express, will be non-bailable and cognisable. Every person who discriminates and every person who aids or abets in the episode are liable for punishment. The first offence under its provisions will attract a punishment of one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000, and empower the courts to grant compensation payable by the accused to the victim, which may extend to Rs 1 lakh. Repeat offence under the Act will be penalised with a three-year jail term apart from a Rs 1 lakh fine. If an institution violates the provision of being 'open to all classes, castes, creed, gender or nation', then it will attract a similar penalty. Moreover, the state government 'shall not provide any financial aid or grant to such institution' violating the provisions of the Bill. In April this year, Gandhi wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to bring a legislation named after Vemula to prevent caste-based prejudice in higher educational institutions. Following this, Siddaramaiah said the Karnataka Congress government was committed to ensuring that the oppressed classes did not face any discrimination in the educational system. The proposed legislation was also part of the Congress manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly elections. Vemula ended his life at the University of Hyderabad in January 2016 in protest against caste discrimination.
Scroll.in
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Rohith Vemula suicide: Telangana government has sought to reopen case, says deputy CM
The Telangana government has submitted a legal note in the High Court seeking directions to reopen a case about the suicide of University of Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said on Friday, according to The Indian Express. Vikramarka, a Congress leader, said at a press conference in Delhi that the government 'will not leave anybody involved in the case.' The deputy chief minister questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to appoint N Ramchander Rao as the new head of its Telangana unit. Rao, a former MLC, was among the accused named in the original case related to Vemula's death. 'It shows that whoever goes against Adivasis and whoever goes against Dalits will be rewarded by the BJP,' Vikramarka was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. 'The BJP has to apologise to the nation. Is targeting Dalits the qualification for you to appoint as president.' Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, had died by suicide on January 17, 2016. In his suicide note, he had alleged caste-based discrimination and harassment by the university. Vemula had been protesting against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is the Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing, and the administration at the University of Hyderabad for their decision to bar five Dalit men, including himself, from using their hostels and the university's public spaces. Vemula was a leader of the Ambedkar Students Association. His death triggered nationwide protests and sparked a movement against caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions. Following his death, police registered a case of abetment to suicide and invoked charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. In May 2024, eight years after Vemula's death, the Telangana Police filed a closure report in the case that claimed that Vemula did not belong to the Scheduled Caste category and hence died by suicide fearing that his real caste identity would be discovered. The report also alleged that the Vemula family forged their caste certificates. However, the family has maintained that Rohith Vemula's mother is a Dalit Mala by birth and was adopted by a woman belonging to an Other Backward Classes community. The closure report also cleared the accused persons: Secunderabad MP at the time Bandaru Dattatreya, Member of Legislative Council N Ramachander Rao, Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad Appa Rao, Leaders from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and .
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Congress: New Telangana BJP chief rewarded for Vemula 'murder'
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (ANI photo) NEW DELHI: Congress Friday lashed out at BJP for appointing N Ramchander Rao as its Telangana president, asking if the party has rewarded him for "his leading role" in the "institutional murder" of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in 2016. Congress demanded BJP withdraw the appointment and apologise to the country. Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu said Rao had taken "goons" to Hyderabad University and forced authorities to file a false case against Vemula, leading to harassment that ended with his suicide. Same time, Vikramarka said BJP has appointed M Susheel Kumar, who as a key ABVP member was allegedly involved in Vemula's harassment, as assistant professor in DU. Vikramarka also announced Congress govt had moved HC seeking a directive to reopen the Vemula case. The move comes nearly three months after Rahul Gandhi asked CM Revanth Reddy to enact a law against caste discrimination named after Vemula.
India Gazette
11-07-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Congress alleges BJP rewarded leader responsible for Rohit Vemula's suicide
New Delhi [India], July 11 (ANI): The Congress Party on Friday accused the BJP of rewarding the leaders who were responsible for the suicide of Dalit student Rohit Vemula in 2016. The party took strong exception to the BJP appointing Ramchander Rao as the Telangana state president, saying that Rao was one of the accused reportedly responsible for Rohit Vemula's suicide. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters today, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Chairman of the SC Department of the party Rajendra Pal Gautam condemned the appointment of Ramchander Rao as the Telangana BJP chief. They alleged that the BJP was patronising and promoting the people and leaders who were responsible for atrocities on Dalits, tribals and minorities. Giving details of Vemula's suicide, Gautam said that his scholarship had been stopped for seven months by the university on the complaint of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP. 'Burdened by debt, he eventually committed suicide,' he added. He alleged that a false case was registered against Vemula by the then ABVP leader Sushil Kumar. He said the then Union Minister Bandaru Dattatraya, the then Union Education Minister Smriti Irani and then BJP MLC Ramchander Rao had pressured the university administration to penalise Rohit Vemula and his associates. With the result, he said, Vemula was expelled from the hostel and, forced by circumstances, he committed suicide. Gautam noted that the BJP had rewarded all those responsible for Vemula's suicide. While Dattatraya was made Haryana Governor, Sushil Kumar was appointed Assistant Professor in Delhi University. Telangana Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka said that Vemula had taken up the cause of the Dalit students, but the ABVP got a false case registered against him by pressurising the university administration, and he was forced to commit suicide. Deputy CM Vikramarka recalled that in his suicide note, Rohith Vemula had described his death as an institutional murder. He had earlier written to the Dean and Vice-Chancellor, stating that the condition of students from weaker sections was so dire that it would be better to offer them poison or a rope for taking their lives instead of admissions. The Deputy Chief Minister said that by appointing Ramachander Rao as the president of the BJP in Telangana, the party has once again demonstrated that those who act against Dalits and Adivasis are rewarded by it. (ANI)
New Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
BJP rewards those who go against Dalits, Adivasis: Congress slams Ramchander Rao's elevation as Telangana chief
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday slammed the elevation of N Ramchander Rao, who was among the accused in the 2016 Rohith Vemula suicide case, as the president of the BJP's Telangana unit chief, and said the party has once again proved that whoever goes against Dalits and Adivasis will be rewarded by it. The opposition party demanded that the BJP rethink such appointments and also unconditionally apologise to the country. Telangana Police had last year filed a closure report in the case before a local court and given a clean chit to the accused, including Rao. Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu said Vemula's suicide at the University of Hyderabad had shook the country and made it reflect on what is happening under the BJP rule. "He was a PhD scholar and was an active member of the Ambedkar Students' Association. For the discrimination he was facing, he, along with a few friends, thought they'd bring the issues to the attention of the university for the cause of self-respect and social justice for Dalits," he said at a press conference. "When he (Vemula) was fighting for these causes, the student wing leader of the BJP, Susheel Kumar, filed a false case and brought a lot of pressure on the university authorities to book and rusticate the boys and shame them, and finally this led to the death of Rohith," Mallu said.
