Protests on scholar’s suicide continue

For the second day running, about 20 protesters gathered outside Shastri Bhavan on Haddows Road in Nungambakkam, to protest the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula. On Wednesday, the cadres of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) gathered to raise slogans demanding the arrest of union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya and university Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao. The agitators also demanded an inquiry into the entire episode. 

When those assembled refused to disperse upon the police’s instructions, a tussle ensued with policemen compelled to physically herd the squatters blocking the road traffic into the police vans. 

About 65 agitators were detained on the first day of the protests held here by workers of Congress and Left parties.