Education Minister Smriti Irani had stressed that Professor Prakash Babu headed the committee that decided on the action against Rohith Vemula and his friends.
A senior Dalit professor at the Hyderabad Central University has completely rejected
Education Minister Smriti Irani's account of the role he played in the suspension of Rohith Vemula, a 26-year-old research scholar, who died after allegedly committing suicide on Sunday.
Professor Prakash Babu, Dean of Student's Welfare, told NDTV today that Ms Irani has incorrectly announced that he headed a committee that decided Mr Vemula and four other Dalit students should be punished for allegedly beating up a student leader of the BJP youth wing, the ABVP. In fact, Mr Babu claimed, he was a last-minute addition to the committee. "I participated in deliberation and discussion... I protested and argued suspension of students will hamper their growth," he said today.
Mr Vemula hung himself on Sunday in his hostel - one of many campus facilities made off-limits to him as his punishment. Four other students were penalised with him - all members of the Ambedkar Students Association.
Mr Vemula's death and the months that preceded it have brought national scrutiny to the university, where many lower caste students allege continued caste discrimination and the use of political influence to harass them.
Yesterday, Ms Irani said the fact of Mr Vemula's death and the circumstances surrounding it are wrongly being presented as "
a caste battle." She stressed that Professor Babu headed the committee that decided on the action against Mr Vemula and his friends.
The four other students were today informed that their suspension has been revoked; however, they said Professor Babu's notice informing them of this is unacceptable. The students allege that the teacher's actions are inconsistent with his stated commitment to lower caste students like themselves. This is demonstrated in part, they said, by the fact that he agreed to join the committee that punished Mr Vemula.
They also claim that the professor was originally named as an accused in the police complaint filed by the ABVP student. "How can someone who was party to the case, as accused, be on a committee to decide on punishment in the same case? Unless they bought his silence by removing his name from the case?" asked Prashant, one of the students who was suspended.