On Monday, the Andhra Pradesh government put an end to speculation and stated that Rohith Vemula, the PhD scholar from Hyderabad University who committed suicide last year was not a Dalit, but a member of the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
They government also decided to cancel the “fraudulent” Scheduled Caste certificate obtained by Vemula and his mother Radhika, according to a Hindustan Times reported.
The government served Radhika Vemula a show cause notice, asking her why she cannot be declared a part of the Vaddera community, which falls under the OBC category.
She needs to substantiate her claims of being a Dalit within two weeks by providing valid documents.
Kantilal Dante, the Guntur district collector said that a District-Level Scrutiny Committee (DLSC) made a detailed enquiry at the field level, submitting a report stating that neither of the two were Dalits and that they procured the certificate through fraudulent means.
Based on the DLSC report, we have decided to cancel the Dalit certificate fraudulently obtained by Rohith and his mother and declare them as belonging to OBC community. As part of the procedure, we have served a notice on Radhika to prove her claim of being a Dalit within 15 days. Otherwise, she and Rohith will be declared OBCs.
The notice was served to Radhika in an apparent move to avoid legal hassles in future.
Rohith’s brother, Raja Vemula confirmed his mother received the notice.
They gave her two weeks’ time to prove that she indeed belonged to SC community and is not an OBC. We are consulting our lawyers to study the notice and give a proper reply.
The Andhra government wanted to send the report to the Centre declaring the OBC status of Vemula on his first death anniversary on 17 January but could not do so due to legal entanglements.
Revenue officials from Guntur’s Gurjala village conducted a field study and reported to the collector that he was a Vaddera and not a Dalit.
On 17 January, hundreds of students staged a protest seeking justice and Radhika Vemula threatened to move the Supreme Court if the government declared that she and her sons were not Dalits.
Former Allahabad HC judge AK Roopanwal declared that Vemula was an OBC, and not Dalit. He said that Radhika Vemula may have procured a false certificate to claim benefits of reservation.