Protests erupt against HRD Ministry, Dattatreya after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide

[caption id=“attachment_2589762” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] Police use water cannons to disperse students during a protest against the HRD Ministry in New Delhi. Rohith Vemula, a second year PhD student at University of Hyderabad, committed suicide on Sunday evening. This led to protests across the nation. PTI[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2589766” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor were on Monday named in an FIR over Vemula’s suicide. PTI[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2589768” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] The issue also took a political turn with allegations that the extreme action was a result of discrimination against Dalit students at the behest of Dattatreya, who had written a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani, seeking action against their “anti-national acts”. PTI[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2589770” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] The dead student, Rohit Vemula, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader. They were also kept out of the hostel. PTI[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2589772” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] Facing protests outside her office and residence in the Delhi, Smriti Irani reacted saying she would not make any political statement but await the report of a fact-finding committee. PTI[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2589774” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] The agitating students demanded immediate removal of Dattatreya from the Union Cabinet. The students alleged that Dattatreya was instrumental in suspension of the students from the university. PTI[/caption]