Judicial panel begins hearing amid JAC boycott

A judicial commission set up by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to probe the alleged suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula in the University of Hyderabad (UoH) commenced its hearing amid a boycott call given by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice on Tuesday.

The one-member Justice (retd) Ashok Kumar Roopanwal panel began its proceedings at the Centre for Distance and Virtual Learning (CDVL) here, said UoH Registrar M Sudhakar. “The proceedings are going on,” the Registrar said, adding that he would appear before the panel on February 25, the final day of the three-day hearing.

S Munna, a member of JAC of UoH which spearheaded the protests on the suicide case demanding “justice” for Vemula, said they are boycotting the hearing because they were not consulted before and that the panel did not pay heed to its request to reschedule their visit as the dates were clashing with students’ protest in Delhi.

“We are holding a protest in Delhi today and we had informed them (the panel) about the same on February 6 itself about our ‘Chalo Delhi’ programme, but they did not respond to our request...We are boycotting the commission. It’s a clear-cut conspiracy to suppress our movement. It was a plan. That's why we are opposing and boycotting,” Munna said. He said the JAC may depose before it if the commission reschedules its hearing by changing the date and venue.