AP govt to cancel SC certificate, Rohith Vemula not a Dalit says Guntur collector

Hyderabad: The departed Rohith Vemula, the research scholar who committed suicide in 2016 the family took a legal challenge against the AP government’s inquiry report which says Vemula was not a Dalit and belonged to the Other Backward Class (OBC) group.

According to Indian Express, the case has been taken a new way with the Guntur collector filing a review report on Tuesday. “They are not Dalits. During our extensive investigation, we have come to conclusion that they belong to Vadera community, which is an OBC caste. They have fraudulently acquired schedule caste certificates and we have notified them to show evidence of their SC status withing 15 days,” Guntur district collector.

The notification of 30 pages have been sent to Vemula’s family which was raising questions about his mother Radhika Vemula, his brother Raja Vemula and his sister Neelima Vemula. The family should prove their SC status within 15 days otherwise the administration will declare them as OBC.

Radhika’s husband Manikumar belongs to the OBC Vaddera community, she separated with him and was born in a Scheduled Caste community and staying in an SC colony after her separation and this made her a Dalit under the law.

According to the final reports submitted by the District Level Scrutiny Committee, they belong to the Vaddera community and either Rohith nor his mother Radhika were Dalits and the committee suggested to cancel the certificate issued to the Vemula family.

On February 11, Raja Vemula younger brother of Rohith told to express that revenue officers served notice and the family will respond legally.

He said, “We will fight it out in the court. This is only an attempt to safeguard the MPs who are involved in this institutional murder. We will be reaching Hyderabad in the next two or three days and will take the matter forward legally.”