HYDERABAD: Emotions ran high on Monday as those fighting for
justice for Rohith Vemula
recollected their journey over the last one year. Many vowed to continue fighting till courts delivered a favourable verdict.
With reports doing the rounds about the AP government planning to declare Rohith to be from the
BC community
, his brother Raja Vemula said, “Even if the
Guntur district administration
declares Rohith a BC, we will not stop our fight. We will march ahead and challenge this in court.“ He also said he would do all that he can to ensure the enactment of a Rohith Act to curb
caste-based discrimination
in educational institutions.
Other students and friends continued to demand the suspension of Prof Appa Rao Podile as vice-chancellor of UoH. “Podile and other ministers accused in Rohith's suicide case are clearly being protected by the Central government. Even after a year, interrogation in the case has not begun,“ said Prashanth Dontha, afriend of Rohith.
A student, one among 40 others against whom cases were filed for vandalising the V-Cs lodge in March 2016, said, “We were brutally beaten up by cops when Podile returned to the campus last year. While we went to jail, there is no progress on the case filed against Podile.“