Hyd Uni VC Goes On Leave Even as 7 Students Begin Hunger Strike

Hyderabad Uni VC Appa Rao Podile, named in Rohith Vemula FIR, goes on leave even as students continue hunger strike.

Rohit Vemula (left) and the place where he ended his life. (Photo: TNM)

The Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad University, Professor Appa Rao Podile has gone on leave as seven university students begin an indefinite hunger strike on Sunday afternoon.

The announcement was made through the website of Hyderabad university. It came after seven students who were hospitalised on Saturday evening due to deteriorating health conditions, announced indefinite hunger strike.

Three students from the Delhi university have also started a hunger strike on Sunday.

Five of the hospitalised students have been asked to stay back in the hospital while two are undergoing tests but are stable, according to a doctor at the hospital.

The protests and hunger strike are against the suicide of a Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula on 17 January. He was found hanging in a hostel room at the university.

The Joint Action Council (JAC) spearheading the protest will hold a ‘Chalo HCU’ programme on Monday.

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Appa Rao along with a few others were named in the FIR lodged in connection with the case.

The students have been demanding arrest of the ones named in the FIR.

The students have also asked the government to provide Rs 50 lakh compensation to Vemula’s family, besides providing a job to one of the family members.

(With agency inputs)