Following the report of the one-man Commission set up to investigate the death of University of Hyderabad (UoH) scholar Rohith Vemula, the latter's brother Raja Vemula has criticized the allegations made in the report.
The Indian Express, which first accessed the report, said that it made several allegations including one, which claimed that Rohith’s mother, Radhika, "branded" herself a Dalit to avail the benefits of reservation.
It also reportedly blamed Rohith for his own suicide and stated that union ministers Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani were only discharging their duties.
The findings also reportedly called the decision by the proctoral committee of the university to suspend Vemula and four other students “most reasonable”.
The Roopanwal Commission had been formed by the HRD Ministry to look into the circumstances leading to the death of Vemula, after he committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of a hostel room in the university on January 17, 2016.
Read - Rohith Vemula killed himself over ‘worldy affairs’, not discrimination: 8 points from enquiry report
In a statement, Raja wrote:
My mother Radhika Vemula was the one who endured lot of sacrifices and discrimination, who was humiliated not only in the society but also within the household where she was adopted in to, who lost her son Rohith Vemula on account of the socio-political victimization he had undergone along with four other dalit research scholars from Ambedkar Students Association, who is still feeling the pain of the loss of her son whom she struggled to send till the University level to compete in the open merit category and get a seat, who is still struggling since past 10 months for seeking Justice for her Son anticipating that no mother should suffer as she is suffering, who is openly attending and extending solidarity to various dalit struggles happening across the country by echoing her concern for the emancipation of dalits and their fight for self-respect, is now branded as the one who managed to get a certificate of Schedule Caste to take benefits of being a scheduled caste by injustice Ashok Kumar Roopanwala.
The agenda of BJP and RSS are clearly manifested in the report of the commission, which does not take in to account the butchering and enslaving of Dalits, raping and murdering Dalit woman, pronouncement of social boycotts in villages and educational institutions, instead attack on the affirmative policies extended through reservations, and demand for a ban on reservations. The entire commission report has aimed at saving BJP Union Ministers, Podile Apparao and BJP MLC Ramachandra Rao along with ABVP members. Despite District Magistrate, Guntur’s report, National Commission for Scheduled Castes Report which clearly stated my brother Rohith Vemula as Scheduled Caste, the present government is making all efforts to divert the reports of authenticated bodies. (sic)