Students bid to besiege Sectt foiled

Hyderabad: Mild tension prevailed at the Secretariat when students from various organisations attempted to lay a siege to the Secretariat on Tuesday. The police have detained about 100 students and shifted them to various police stations.

A huge gathering of students from Osmania University, spearheaded by the Students Joint Action Committee (OU JAC), All India Students’ Federation and JAC of the University of Hyderabad, marched towards the Secretariat carrying banners and raising slogans.

The student organisations demanded that the State government consider the sensitive issue and ensure justice to the deceased research scholar Rohith Vemula’s mother V Radhika.Rohith (26), research scholar at University of Hyderabad, committed suicide after he and his four friends were suspended by the University Vice Chancellor for their alleged involvement in a clash between two student groups.

The students demanded removal of VC Appa Rao from his post and also dismissal of Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya from the Cabinet and punishment for MLC Ramchander Rao as they were “responsible for the death of Rohith.” The students alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had turned a blind-eye to the death of Rohith at university.

The police arrested the students and thus foiled their attempt to lay siege to the Secretariat. Meanwhile, the AISF students staged a protest near Ambedkar Statue on Tank Bund and demanded that the police arrest the accused in Rohith’s suicide case. They said the ex-gratia announced by the university would not compensate the loss done to Rohith's family.