“Equality denied, everything denied.m,” said Muthukrishanan Jeevanantham, a 25-year old student of JNU. He was an alumnus of the University of Hyderabad and was pursuing MPhil at the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. The young man committed suicide by hanging himself at his friend’s house situated in Munirka Vihar. Muthukrishnan’s friend had invited him to lunch after which he requested his friend to provide him with a room as he was feeling sleepy. After a while, the friend calling him several times but there was no response.

Muthu, also a Dalit student, was an active participant in the Rohith Vemula movement which was initiated after the death of another UoH scholar named Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student in Delhi. On March 10th, Muthu posted a rather disturbing status on social media which said, “There is no Equality in M.phil/Ph.D. Admission, there is no equality in Viva – Voce, there is the only denial of equality, denying prof. Sukhadeo Thorat recommendation, denying Students protest places in Ad – block, denying the education of the Marginals. When Equality is denied everything is denied.”

Dontha Prasadh, another Dalit student activist and a dear friend of Rohith said, “This is a sad news for us, we are still in shock. I remember he joined UoH in 2012, but he always wanted to study in JNU. He tried several times, but last year he finally he managed to get through JNU. He was an active member of our Dalit movement. I still remember when we were socially boycotted and were forced to sleep in a makeshift tent on the campus, he used to visit us daily. This is a great loss to the community.”

However, you will be shocked to know how many of Muthu’s proposals have been rejected and how the caste has played a role here: