Discrepancies in Rohith Vemula probe, will ensure justice: Congress

The Congress on Sunday, 5 May said there were many discrepancies in the investigation previously conducted into Rohith Vemula's death in 2016. and asserted that its government in Telangana will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice for his family.

Police in Telangana have filed a closure report before a court in its probe into the death of Vemula, a student of the University of Hyderabad, claiming he was not a Dalit as has been claimed all along, and that he took his own life in 2016 for fear that his "real caste" would be discovered.

Congress general-secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said Vemula's death was a grave atrocity that completely exposed the "anti-Dalit mindset" of the BJP. "The Congress, including Rahul Gandhi ji, has stood with Rohith Vemula's family through this difficult period," he said in a post on X.

As has been clarified by Telangana Police, the closure report was prepared in June 2023, Venugopal said. The Congress came to power in the state in December last year by defeating the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

"There were many discrepancies in the investigation conducted previously. The Congress government in Telangana will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice for Rohith's family," he asserted.

"Not only that, when we form a government at the Centre, we will pass a Rohith Vemula Act, specifically addressing the issue of caste and communal atrocities on campuses to ensure no student coming from socio-economic backwardness has to face the same plight as Rohith ever again," he said.

Venugopal's remarks came a day after Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula met Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad and urged him to see to it that "justice" is done to the family.

Reddy assured her that a fresh investigation would be conducted into the University of Hyderabad student's suicide in 2016, and that justice would be done. The chief minister also assured a transparent investigation, Rohith's brother Raja Vemula said.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday evening at the University of Hyderabad, Radhika Vemula took exception to the observation in the closure report that her son did not belong to a Scheduled Caste (SC). "My son belongs to an SC. I am a Dalit. How can police say that my son is not SC? Police don't enquire about caste (it is not their job). That is a false campaign," she had said.

She also found fault with the argument that Vemula died because he was not doing well in his studies. Her son excelled in studies, she claimed.

Telangana DGP Ravi Gupta has already announced further investigation into the case in view of the doubts expressed by Rohith Vemula's mother and others about the closure report.