Scholar suicide: JNU students begin indefinite hunger strike

A group of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday launched an indefinite hunger strike, demanding justice for Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), amid growing outrage over his alleged suicide.

Three students of JNU – Suchishree, Lenin Kumar and Shubhanshu –have decided to sit on a fast to express solidarity with the protesting students at the HCU. 

Other students from Jawaharlal Nehru University will join the trio for a relay hunger strike over the issue, said Lenin Kumar, former president of JNU’s students’ union.

“The environment in which Rohith was forced to kill himself is faced by millions of Dalit students. His suicide note will remain a powerful testimony to how our higher education system has institutionalized discrimination and hardships for Dalits,” he said.