The Andhra government has reportedly decided to cancel the Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate of Rohith Vemula, the student of the University of Hyderabad who committed suicide last year. It has issued a show-cause notice to Rohith's mother Radhika, asking her to furnish documents within two weeks to prove she is Dalit, failing which they would cancel both their SC certificates.
The district collector of Guntur, Kantilal Dande, told Hindustan Times that Rohith and his mother had obtained the SC certificate "fraudulently" and that they actually belonged to "Other Backward Classes" (OBC).
"This is nothing but a concerted attempt to dilute the case and save the skin of the Vice-Chancellor and BJP Ministers," Radhika told The Hindu, adding that she was born into an SC family and later adopted by another family.
Interestingly, last April, the Collector had reportedly told the National Commission for Scheduled Castes that Rohith belonged to the SC community. He ordered a re-inquiry later and according to a "detailed enquiry" by the District-Level Scrutiny Committee (DLSC), Rohith and his mother's status was found to be OBC.
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