I seek support, justice, says Rohith's mother

Thiruvananthapuram: "I sent my son to university, so he would get a good education, but they killed him and handed me his dead body. I came here to seek your support, to stand with me till I get justice," said V Radhika, trying to hold back tears.
The mother of Rohith Chakravarti Vemula, the dalit research scholar at the University of Hyderabad whose suicide sparked off protests across the country, had nothing more to say.She was in Thiruvananthapuram along with her younger son Raja Chaithanya Vemula and three students, who were expelled from the university hostel along with Rohith, on a special invitation by the IUML to take part in the concluding public meeting of Kerala Yatra.
One of the students, Sunkanna Velpula, was more vocal in his anguish over "caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions". "Whoever is involved in the incidents that led to Rohith's death should be arrested," he said after naming local BJP MP and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Union HRD minister Smriti Irani.
"We are not playing into the hands of any political party. Except the BJP, all other parties have expressed solidarity with us," he said.
On the dispute over Rohith's dalit status, Sunkanna said his caste certificate had been produced before police. "They (police) wanted to prove otherwise to save Dattatreya against whom an FIR was filed under the SC/ST Act and for abetment to suicide. We now look forward to the Parliament march on February 23, in which students from various institutions will take part."