Rohit Vemula suicide: Supreme Court asks UGC to spell out steps to end caste discrimination on campuses

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to list out steps initiated by it to end caste discrimination in campuses across the country. The direction came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the mothers of Rohit Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who died by suicide on their respective campuses allegedly due to caste discrimination. The PIL was posted for further hearing after four weeks.

The PIL sought guidelines for creating an enabling environment for students belonging to SC/ST communities in institutions of higher education. Describing it as a “very sensitive matter”, the division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh directed the UGC to come up with its response.

Justice Bopanna advised the UGC to specify how it is intending to address the issue and rectify the problem areas mentioned in the petition. He was of the opinion that, since the petition was non-adversarial, it would be better if the UPC refrained from filing a reply in the nature of objections.

“Ultimately, it is in the interest of the students and the parents whose children have lost their lives. In the future, at least some care should be taken that this does not happen,” Justice Bopanna observed, according to the Live Law website.

“Tell the UGC this is a sensitive matter and you have to take some action. Since it is not adversarial, you can also discuss with the petitioner’s counsel for suggestions,” Justice Bopanna told UGC’s counsel senior advocate Indira Jaisingh. He said this after UGC’s counsel expressed the view that it would be better if it was done in a consultative manner.

Echoing a similar view, Justice Sundresh too asked the UGC to list out the steps taken by it so far and any other measures proposed for future. He also wanted the UGC to come up with proposals on how to mainstream students from SC/ST backgrounds.

Radhika Vemula, one of the petitioners, is the mother of Rohit Vemula, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University who died by suicide on January 17, 2016. Dr Payal Tadvi, an Adivasi student at TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai, was the daughter of Abeda Salim Tadvi. She ended her life on May 22, 2019. Both the suicides were attributed to alleged caste-based discrimination in educational institutions.