Rohith Vemula's family to challenge police's ‘not Dalit’ closure report

Telangana Police closed Rohith Vemula suicide case and said there was not abutment to his suicide.

The family of Rohith Vermula, who died by suicide in 2016, has announced they will challenge the Telangana police’s closure report in the case on Friday. According to reports, Vermula’s family will file a petition in court to seek further investigation.

Rohith Vermula’s brother Raja Vermula on Friday said that the Telangana high court gave them the option to file a ‘protest petition’ in the lower court, adding that he and other members of the family are planning to meet Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, reported PTI.

Also read: ‘No case of suicide abetment’: What BJP said on Rohith Vemula death case closure

Hitting out at the closure report, Raja said, “Whether Rohith belonged to the Scheduled Caste community or not should come from the district collector of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh…How can the police say he was not an SC?”

Rohith, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, died by suicide on January 17, 2016, sparking national outrage. The incident took place a year after Hyderabad University reportedly stopped paying his fellowship. He was later suspended after getting involved in a fight with some ABVP members.

What did the Telangana police closure report say?

The Telangana police on Friday closed the suicide case, giving a clean chit to then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, member of legislative council N Ramachander Rao, then vice-chancellor of Hyderabad Central University Appa Rao, ABVP leader and women and child development minister Smriti Irani. The report claimed that Vermula was “not a Dalit”, and he died by suicide as he feared that his “real caste” would be discovered.

“In addition to this, the deceased himself was aware that he did not belong to Scheduled Caste and that his mother got him a SC certificate. This could be one of the constant fears as the exposure of the same would result in a loss of his academic degrees that he earned over the years and be compelled to face prosecution,” the report said.

“The deceased had multiple issues worrying him, which could have driven him to commit suicide,” it added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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