The suicide of Hyderabad University Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula has triggered huge protests in Hyderabad and other parts of India.
Rohith was one of the five dalit scholars suspended by the university last year, after he got involved in a verbal clash between two student groups in August last year. He was associated with the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA).
Here are five developments in the case:
1. The body of 22-year-old research scholar Rohith Vemula was forcibly moved to the Osmania General Hospital for postmortem by the police who breached the student cordon. Students were lathicharged after they refused to release Rohith's body.
2. The Union HRD ministry sends a team to probe the incident.
3. A case has been registered under the SC&ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 306 (abetment to commit suicide) of the IPC against BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya. He is accused by the students of inciting action because he wrote a letter to Smriti Irani on 17 August 2015 in which he said that the Hyderabad University was becoming a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics. A copy of the letter is with The News Minute.
4. Cases have also been registered against University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao, BJP MLC Ramachander Rao, Sushil Kumar and Krishna Chaitanya.
5. There are protests at the Hyderabad University itself. "We had decided to protest in front of the administration block and had moved Rohith's body there, when the police came and said that we had to clear in 15 minutes. We were brutally lathi charged and they dragged away the body when we dispersed," Arpita, a student leader told The News Minute.
6. Protests have spread to other colleges like Jawaharlal Nehru University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences as well.