Alleging "delay in justice" to Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula, 150 protesting students from universities across Delhi who were detained earlier on Wednesday decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike at Parliament Street police station in New Delhi.
A day after the Budget was presented, chaos is expected to return to Parliament on Tuesday with the Opposition prepped to target Education Minister Smriti Irani in both Houses over her statements on the death of Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula and the Jawaharlal Nehru University controversy.
A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh asked the UGC to furnish the details of steps taken on a plea by the mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi.
Fearing another case of Rohith Vemula, authorities of Darbhanga medical college and hospital in Bihar have forced a Dalit MBBS student to submit an affidavit with police to make it clear that he would not commit suicide if he is not declared pass in the final year examination, officials on Thursday said.
'O P Sharma pulled me down to the ground and started punching and kicking me.' 'The Delhi police, instead of arresting Sharma and the others, detained me for five hours after this incident.'
Opposition parties say the HRD minister is acting like ABVP's patron saint.
'The government should immediately enact an Act to make caste discrimination a criminal offence and lay down a procedure similar to that of the Anti-Ragging Act.' 'Ragging has nearly been eliminated because it is treated as a criminal offence.' 'Similar procedure should be used in case of caste discrimination.'
Voicing "dissatisfaction" over remarks by Modi on Friday at a university in Lucknow, the Joint Action Council spearheading the stir asked if the prime minister would now take action against his ministers.
'For a Dalit boy to reach the PhD stage, it requires a lot of pain and hard work. He was a scholar, an intelligent student.' 'This is not about the loss of just an individual, but the loss of this nation.'
Kanhaiya, who came with Rohith's mother and brother to express solidarity with the students, was greeted with slogans for and against him at the gate.
'If we encourage such forces, then tomorrow they will try to intimidate every teacher who doesn't teach their idea of what is right and wrong.'
With the Congress gunning for Smriti Irani with a privilege Motion, the BJP hit back by pressing for similar action against Jyotiraditya Scindia.
'Does anyone understand India?' 'Does anyone have a larger perspective for India as a whole?' 'Today we have rulers who do not understand the ruled.'
The government and the Opposition have agreed to debate the JNU controversy in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Day 2 of Parliament's Budget session. At a meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to BJP lawmakers was -- "debate aggressively".
The government and the Opposition have agreed to debate the JNU controversy in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Day 2 of Parliament's Budget session. At a meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to BJP lawmakers was -- "debate aggressively".
Two students, who shouted slogans during PM Narendra Modi's convocation address at BBAU on Friday, were arrested and released later on personal bonds.
The JNU Students Union is alleging that Krishnan was targeted for his association with the movement seeking justice for Rohith Vemula and depression made him take the extreme step.
The storm over the suicide of a Dalit student in Hyderabad University intensified on Thursday.
The Budget session of Parliament is set to start on a stormy note on Tuesday with issues like the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide and Pathankot terror strike set to dominate the proceedings.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani is likely to be the target of Opposition attack in Parliament where Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress charge against the government on Tuesday.
The incident comes in the wake of alleged suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar pursuing PhD in Hyderabad Central University.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday targeted Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide by a Dalit scholar saying the ministers and the vice chancellor have "not acted fairly" that forced him to take the extreme step.
Hundreds of ABVP supporters on Wednesday marched from Ramlila Maidan to Jantar Mantar to denounce "anti-nationals".
There was a lack of "sensitivity" shown in some areas by Hyderabad University authorities in dealing with the events which led to suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula.
Security was beefed up with a large number of police personnel being deployed around the campus as a precautionary measure.
The Supreme Court had last month ruled that any appeal for votes on the ground of 'religion, race, caste, community or language' amounted to 'corrupt practice' under the electoral law.
In embarrassment for the BJP, former Union minister Sanjay Paswan on Thursday accused Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya of showing "grave insensitivity".
Instead of giving them proper guidance and directions, the government is 'misleading' them, he said.
In the backdrop of suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad University, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Ramdas Athawale today demanded that members of the community be allowed to possess firearms given a "vertical rise" in incidents of "atrocities" against them.
AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar on Wednesday reached Hydrabad to meet protesting students.
A shoe was hurled at Jawaharlal Nehru University president Kanhaiya Kumar as he was about to address a seminar in Hyderabad on Thursday.
The mother said she would meet him only on the campus along with four other students who were suspended.
Rejecting the judicial commission's report on Rohith Vemula's suicide as "fake and fictitious", the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman P L Punia on Wednesday said the deceased Hyderabad Univeristy research scholar was a Dalit.
Agitators called for a 'Chalo HCU' protest march to press their demand for a 'Rohith Act' to safeguard SC/ST students.
Other students from JNU will join the trio for a relay hunger strike over the issue, said Lenin Kumar, former president of JNU's students union.
The ABVP on Friday demanded a fresh inquiry and sought an FIR against ASA and SFI leaders claiming that certain lines of Rohith's suicide note implicating them were struck off.
The letter purportedly written by Rohith Vemula, the Dalit scholar of University of Hyderabad, before he committed suicide, has been sent to the forensic lab for analysis as reports emerged about an entire paragraph that had been scratched off the note.
The noted writer, who was awarded D.Lit (Doctor of Letters, honoris causa) by the Central University of Hyderabad few years ago, said the institution has "acted against human dignity and knowledge."
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs will meet on February 4 to decide the Budget session schedule. Venkaiah Naidu says the government is willing to advance the session if the Opposition agrees.
Dalit faculty members on Thursday threatened to step down from administrative positions if their key demand of revocation of suspension of four other students is not met.
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