Rohith Vemula Suicide: Hyderabad University's SC/ST Association Hold 'Protest Day'

Hyderabad: Joining the ongoing stir over the alleged suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, the SC/ST Employees Welfare Association of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) today organised a 'protest day'.

The 'SC/ST Teachers Forum and Concerned Teachers' also continued their relay hunger strike, which they had started on Thursday .

The members of the forum have written to President Pranab Mukherjee regarding their demand for removal of the Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile and seeking that in-charge Vice Chancellor Vipin Srivastava should step down from the post, a representative of the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice said.

The Joint Action Committee, under whose banner the agitation by the students is being led, said a candle light vigil would be organised today, on the eve of the birthday of research scholar Rohith Vemula, who allegedly committed suicide in a hostel room on January 17.

A group of students are also slated to start an indefinite fast in support of their demands today.

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The Joint Action Committee has called for mass hunger strike in universities across the country to express solidarity with the agitation on the HCU campus.

Two batches of students had earlier held indefinite fast at the protest site in HCU. However, they were shifted to hospitals following concerns over their health condition.

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The Joint Action Committee plans to undertake a visit to Delhi in the first week of February to meet the President to press for their demands, the Joint Action Committee representative said.

The Joint Action Committee's main demands includes bringing in a 'Rohith Act' to prevent any injustice to the students of marginalised sections in university, and forming a committee to look into the issues of alleged caste and academic biases in the varsities in the last 20 years in the country.