Poet Ashok Vajpeyi has returns his  D.Litt degree awarded to him by Hyderabad University in protest against circumstances leading to PhD scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide.

Ashok Vajpayi. Photo: PTI

Poet Ashok Vajpeyi today returned his  D.Litt degree awarded to him by Hyderabad University in protest against circumstances leading to PhD scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide. Vajpeyi had earlier returned Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the murder of renowned writer MM Kalburgi in 2015.

“Hyderabad University’s anti-Dalit attitude drives a young scholar to commit suicide. How  can I continue to be on the honours list of the Hyderabad Central university?” Vajpeyi told India Today TV.

“If the probe proves that the university has nothing to do with the incident, then offcourse one can reconsider. The students were thrown out of the hostel, they were living in a tent outside the hostel, is this the way you treat your students?” he added.

Rohith was found hanging in the university’s hostel room on Sunday. His suicide sparked a massive protest by students in Hyderabad and in Delhi.

Rohith was among the five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader. They were also kept out of the hostel. The suspension was, however, revoked later.

Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor were named in an FIR over the death of the scholar.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited University of Hyderabad today and said that the university Vice Chancellor and a union minister created the situation that made Rohith Vemula commit suicide.

“I agree with the students here. Rohith committed suicide but the conditions for his suicide were created by the VC and the minister,” Rahul Gandhi said after meeting Rohith’s family.

A case has been filed against Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who has been accused of abetment of Rohith’s suicide

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rohith-vemula-suicide-poet-ashok-vajpeyi-returns-his-d-litt-degree-awarded-by-hyderabad-university/1/574324.html