Dalit student suicide: HRD Ministry denies putting pressure on Hyd University, says 4 'reminders' were sent on 'VIP letter'

New Delhi: The HRD Ministry on Tuesday rejected allegations that it had put any pressure on the University of Hyderabad in the matter relating to the suspension of a dalit student, who committed suicide on Sunday.

After it emerged that the Ministry had sent five letters including four reminders to the University regarding the August 17, 2015 letter written by Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, it said it was only following the procedures.

"It would be wrong to say that the Ministry has put any pressure on the Hyderbad University. The Ministry had only followed the procedure as per the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure.

"According to the procedure, if there is a VIP reference, it has to be acknowledged in 15 days and another 15 days may be taken to reply to it. Since no response was coming from the University, the Ministry had to send reminders," HRD Ministry spokesperson Ghanshyam Goel said.

Seeking to justify the Ministry's action, officials said that even in Cabinet meetings the Ministry is supposed to provide all details about pending assurances, VIP references, grievances etc.

According to sources, the Ministry had sent its first letter on September 3, 2015 to the University, and reminders were later sent on September 24, October 6, October 20 and November 19.

Officials said that the University finally replied on the matter on January 7.

Dattatreya had written a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani after a clash between two student groups in the campus in which an ABVP leader Susheel Kumar was attacked.

Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar, who committed suicide on Sunday night, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the University in August last year over the alleged assault case. They were also kept out of the hostel.

The issue took a political turn with allegations that the extreme step taken by Rohith was a result of discrimination against dalit students at the behest of Dattatreya, following his letter to Irani, seeking action against their "anti-national acts".

Rohith was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room in the campus on Sunday, triggering protests from fellow students this morning.