CPI Rubbishes Rupanwala Report On Rohith Vemula

CPI National Council Secretary K Narayana along with the kin of dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, slammed the Justice Rupanwala Single Person Commission, which was set up to probe into the dalit scholar's alleged suicide, for focusing entirely on Vemula’s caste instead of probing the actual reasons behind the suicide.

Narayana said that Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya would have gone to jail had the Commission probed the case from a caste-based-discrimination and criminal conspiracy angle, and accused it of submitting a false report to the Centre.

In its report, the commission alleged that Vemula's mother had acquired a caste certificate to gain social benefits (reservations).

Speaking on this, the CPI secretary pointed out that the Guntur District Collector had given a report saying that Vemula was a dalit. The Mandal Revenue Officer concerned had also given a caste certificate confirming that the late scholar was a Dalit. The Central SC Commission, too, had confirmed the same.

He demanded the Prime Minister disregard the Roopanwala commission's report and initiate action against Smriti Irani and Dattatreya under the SC / ST Atrocities Act filed against them.