Vemula's friends, family slam HRD minister

New Delhi, Feb 26  The friends and family of Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad University student who committed suicide, slammed Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday and accused her of lying in parliament.

"In parliament Smriti Irani was taking name of chief warden who was a Dalit. She has time and again raised this... she can go through records, check all flies, chief warden was never a part of any inquiry process related to the incident," Vemula's friend Prashant said at a press conference here. He was accompanied by Vemula's mother and brother. 

"Why is she scared to talk about Rohith's comments on ABVP in parliament?" he said. 

Another friend of Vemula, Vijay said: "I don't know how these ministers are stating lies in temple of democracy. Smriti Irani is using cinematic and dramatic kind of expressions which cannot transform falsehood into truth."