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Rohith Chakravarti Vemula (30 January 1989 – 17 January 2016) was an Indian PhD student at the Hyderabad Central University. His suicide on 17 January 2016 sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits and low status caste classes in India, in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "lower classes". According to the suicide note, he committed suicide in the room of one Umma Anna, in whose room he was staying after being expelled from the hostel by the authorities at the Hyderabad Central University. His death occurred after a controversy which extended over several months starting in July 2015, when the University reportedly stopped paying him the fellowship of 25,000 rupees per month and expelled him from the hostel along with five other members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA).

Early life

Vemula was born on 30 January 1989 in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to Manikumar Vemula and Radhika.

Background and death

ABVP activists expressed objection to Rohith's alleged protest against the death penalty for Yakub Memon, a convict in 1993 Bombay bombings in which 257 people were killed and also his condemnation of the ABVP attack on the screening of the documentary ‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai’ in Delhi University. Action was taken against Rohith by college due to his involvement in an alleged attack on ABVP activist Nandanam Susheel Kumar.

But according to reports, Susheel Kumar who was admitted to hospital on August 4 by his brother was operated upon for acute appendicitis on August 7.

“After collecting all the medical reports of Susheel Kumar and examining them, I could not reach the conclusion that he developed appendicitis due to the alleged assault. There was one line that there was a bruise on his left shoulder. I could not say if he was allegedly punched or beaten up. I did not examine him as he did not come to me and the hospital’s report does not mention that he had any external or visible injury.” Dr Anupama Rao, Senior Medical Officer of the University of Hyderabad told Indian Express.

The report quotes Duty Security Officer (DSO) Dilip Singh, who said in his report, “I did not see ASA members beating Susheel. At least it did not happen in front of me.”

A university official denied the allegation of non-payment of scholarship, blaming the delay on "paperwork." Rohith's suicide has been called an "institutional murder" by many, including Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist) , Kavita Krishan of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), Dalit author and activist Meena Kandasamy.

"The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of stardust. In very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.

I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense. May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That's pathetic. And that's why I am doing this."

The Indian Express described the timeline of events which led to his suicide as follows: On August 5, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. On August 17, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the "Hyderabad University…has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics". After a series of flip-flops, the five were suspended in September. On December 17, the decision was upheld. On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a "relay hunger protest".

A police case was lodged in the context of his suicide and included the name of Bandaru Dattatreya, Bharatiya Janata Party's MP from Secunderabad and Indian government's Minister of Labour and Employment.

Reactions

In his suicide note, 26-year-old Rohith had shared that he always wanted to be a science writer like Carl Sagan. American astronomer Carl Sagan's Wife Ann Druyan, depressed by discrimination against Dalit students, has responded to Rohith's words - conveyed to her by activist Rajeev Ramachandran - in a short but reflective letter.

"To read his suicide note and to learn the details of his predicament is to get a vivid inkling of the actual cost of bias to our civilization. If we could somehow quantify the totality of lost contributions and innovations as a result of prejudice, I believe we would find it staggering," writes Ms Druyan, who collaborated with Carl Sagan on his series Cosmos and also co-wrote books with him. You tell me, Rajeev: Is it possible that the attention paid to Rohit's story will lessen its chronic repetition? I am trying to find something hopeful in an otherwise heartbreaking example of needless suffering and squandered potential." She said that she mourned Rohith's death and lost promise.

In his suicide note, 26-year-old Rohith had shared that he always wanted to be a science writer like Carl Sagan. American astronomer Carl Sagan's Wife Ann Druyan, depressed by discrimination against Dalit students responded thus: To read his suicide note and to learn the details of his predicament is to get a vivid inkling of the actual cost of bias to our civilization. If we could somehow quantify the totality of lost contributions and innovations as a result of prejudice, I believe we would find it staggering

Many writers have alleged that the death of Vemula is a continuation of the long history of discrimination against Dalits which continues today, incuding institutions of higher learning.

The poet Ashok Vajpeyi returned his D.Litt degree awarded to him by the Hyderabad Central University in protest against the circumstances which led to the death of Vemula, for which Vajpeyi holds the University culpable.

His father, Manikumar has alleged that his son's death was not suicide and demanded a judicial inquiry.

References

1. Saubhadra, Chatterji (20 January 2016). "Official certificate scotches doubts over Rohith's Dalit identity". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
2. Aji, Sowmya. "Probe suggests Rohith Vemula's family not dalit: Police". The Economic Times. economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
3. "Outrage over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
4. ^ "Full text: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide note - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
5. Mondal, Sudipto. "Rohith Vemula An unfinished portrait". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
6. ^ "Behind Rohith Vemula's suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door". The Indian Express. indianexpress.com. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
7. Service, Express News (21 January 2016). "Malicious intent to present Rohith Vemula suicide as a caste battle: Smriti Irani". The Indian Express. The Indian Express. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
8. "How Rohith & others attacked me, recalls ABVP student who was allegedly beaten in Hyderabad University". IBNLive. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
9. "Is ABVP leader lying about being attacked by ASA members?". ABP News. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
10. "Govt terrorism forced Dalit scholar to commit suicide: Mayawati". The Indian Express. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
11. "Sitaram Yechury dubs Rohit Vemula's suicide as 'institutional murder'". newswala.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
12. "Dalit Student's Suicide: What we know about Rohith Vemula's death". dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
13. "'Vemula's Death an Institutional Murder'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
14. "Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral". Deccan Chronicle. Jan 20, 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
15. Ghosh, Deepshikha (19 January 2016). "Huge Student Protests Against Rohith Vemula's Death: 10 Developments". Hyderabad: NDTV. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
16. "Carl Sagan's Wife Ann Druyan Writes Letter on Rohith Vemula, Mourns 'Lost Promise'". NDTV. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
17. "Carl Sagan's Wife Writes Moving Letter Mourning Rohith Vemula's Letter". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
18. "Carl Sagan's Wife Ann Druyan Writes Letter on Rohith Vemula, Mourns 'Lost Promise'". NDTV. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
19. "Carl Sagan's Wife Writes Moving Letter Mourning Rohith Vemula's Letter". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
20. Ramanathan, S. "Rohith Vemula wasn't alone, it is not easy being a Dalit science scholar in Indian universities". The News Minute. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
21. "Rohith Vemula suicide: Poet Ashok Vajpeyi returns his D Litt degree awarded by Hyderabad University : India, News - India Today". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
22. Rituparna, Chatterjee. "Rohith Vemula's Father Claims Son Was Murdered, Suicide Note Not Written By Him". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 January 2016.

• Suicides by hanging in India
• Dalit politics
• 2016 deaths