Students of the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAV) in Wardha, Maharashtra, have urged the union government to enact a 'Rohith Vemula Act' to protect scholars hailing from marginalised communities and prevent campus suicides like the two reported this week at IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras, on Wednesday, February 15. The student-members of the All India Students Federation-MGAHV Unit, shaken by the two tragic deaths in three days, have submitted a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu through the varsity's Registrar.
A delegation comprising AISF President Chandan Saroj, Secretary Jatin Chaudhary, office-bearers Niranjan Kumar, Atul Singh, Vishal Kumar, Gautam Prakash and others met the MGAHV Registrar and requested him to forward their memorandum to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"Since 2016, students' bodies all over India have been urging the government to enact a stringent 'Rohith Vemula Act', on the lines of the Nirbhaya Act, that can secure students from deprived communities living and studying on campuses in the country," said Saroj.
Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar, had died by suicide at the University of Hyderabad in January 2017, ostensibly due to caste discrimination and harassment, sparking nationwide protests on academic campuses, said Chaudhary.
The AISF-MGAHV memorandum to the President cites the two latest incidents - the suicide of an Ahmedabad student Darshan R Solanki, 18, in IIT-B on February 12, and of a Navi Mumbai student Stephen S Alappat, 24, in IIT-M on February 14, besides the attempted suicide of another student at the IIT-M, now under treatment in Chennai.
It has also cited reports pointing at the alleged caste bias and harassment the two students faced, causing them immense mental agony.
Chaudhary and Saroj said that such cases of students' suicides are increasing in prominent educational institutions of national importance, which is a matter of concern and not a pleasant sign in a democracy. They urged the President to enact the 'Rohith Vemula Act' to curb such tragedies and avoid exploitation of students from backward communities on campuses and the academic world at all levels.