Hyderabad varsity JAC reiterates demand for arrests in Rohith case

Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice at University of Hyderabad has reiterated the demand that union minister Bandaru Dattatreya and vice chancellor P. Appa Rao and three other accused be arrested for abetment of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

The JAC demanded that all accused booked under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act be arrested immediately.

It reiterated the demand in the wake of resolutions passed at the general body meeting of the university students' union on Tuesday.

The JAC, which comprises 14 students' organisations, said the students' union has given official mandate against what it calls the casteist and fascist order prevailing in the university.

The JAC urged President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Visitor of University of Hyderabad, to take cognizance of the continuing atrocities on students from marginalised sections in the university.

It demanded that the students' general body mandate be implemented immediately and justice be delivered to Vemula.

The resolutions passed at the general body meeting demanded removal of Appa Rao from the post of vice chancellor, putting an end to campus blockade immediately, demilitarizing the campus and constituting a committee against prejudices and discrimination in higher educational institutions.

The union also called for dropping all 'false' police cases slapped on students, professors and a media person.

The JAC said the university administration has been running a vicious propaganda that it is just 20-30 students who have been trying to destabilise "normalcy" whereas most students are unaffected by the struggle for justice for Vemula.

It pointed out that the general body meeting of the students' union, the highest decision-making body of students, was attended by 949 students and passed the resolutions unanimously with just one student raising objection to the resolution for Appa Rao's removal.