HYDERABAD: Senior advocate and rights activist Bojja Tarakam died after brief illness here on Friday. He was 77. Bojja was suffering from brain tumor since 2007. Bojja is a rights activist and fought especially for the rights of Dalits and oppressed class. He argued Rohit Vemula’s social boycott at University of Hyderabad.
As an advocate, he filed a case in Supreme Court against police encounters with a demand that cases should be booked against officers involved in encounters and investigate them. He won the case in the Supreme Court. Tarakam was popular for his fight against the culprits in the infamous Tsundur massacre of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh in August 1992.
He resigned as pleader of High Court in 1984 protesting against the upper caste people who attacked Dalits in Karamchedu in Guntur district in AP. He also penned several books on rights movement, which includes Police Arrest Cheste, Dalitulu Rajyam, Kulam Vargam.
Before founding the AP Dalita Maha Sabha, he was president of Republican Party of India (RPI). When, RPI declined in Maharashtra, the activists of RPI, especially, Dalit youths, rallied behind Bojja Tarakam in Andhra Pradesh. After the decline of RPI, Tarakam did not stop his activities with RPI and decided to spread the ideals of Dr BR Ambedkar in the society, especially among the youths.