Judicial panel to look into Rohith Vemula’s death

NEW DELHI: The human resource development ministry has announced the setting up of a judicial commission to probe the death of Hyderabad Central University research scholar Rohith Vemula. The panel will, “review the entire sequence of events and circumstances and to establish the facts and correctives in the context of the university,” it said. This judicial commission will submit its report to the ministry in three months.

The HRD ministry also announced a slew of measures for higher education institutes to check discrimination of any sort and to sensitise university administration to such issues. The decision on the probe panel followed the report submitted by a fact-finding committee of the HRD ministry on Friday. The fact-finding panel was sent to the university after Rohith Vemula — one of the five students associated with the Ambedkar Student Association — committed suicide following his expulsion as part of disciplinary action. HRD minister Smriti Irani spoke to Rohith’s mother extending her condolences.

“A programme will be launched for sensitising academic administrators about understanding and handling problems faced by socially, educationally and economically disadvantaged students. All wardens, administrative staff and registrars would be compulsorily put through the orientation programme. A special module will be prepared for this orientation,” the HRD ministry said in a statement.

All VCs and senior administrators will be sensitised to reach out to socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged students. There should be “zero tolerance for any acts of discrimination on campus”, the ministry statement said.