HRD Minister Smriti Irani 'misled' country on Dalit scholar suicide issue: AAP

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party today accused Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani of "misleading" the nation over the alleged suicide of a Dalit research scholar and demanded the immediate "imprisonment" of Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, an accused in the case.

Irani has made a "mockery" of the deceased student's pain by putting forth "false arguments", party leader Sanjay Singh said and chided the Minister for displaying "mentality of BJP and RSS".

Singh said that contrary to Irani's claims, no Dalit professor headed the committee, formed by the Executive Council of Hyderabad Central University, that had upheld the decision to expel the five students, including Rohith Vemulu, the deceased.

"It was headed by Vipin Srivastava and not anyone belonging to the Dalit community. By stating lies she is making a mockery of Rohith's pain," Singh told reporters.

"They (the students) were expelled from hostel, banned from entering shared spaces inside the university premises based on orders from the top. A discriminatory ambience was created across the campus," Singh said.

The AAP leader contended that Dattatreya's intervention had more to do with his "anti-Dalit sentiment". "He should be arrested and jailed immediately," Singh said.

Yesterday, Irani had said it was the Executive Council of the University that approved the expulsion of the students and an Executive Sub-Committee, which included a senior Dalit faculty member, upheld the punishment.

She had also referred to the presence of a number of Dalit officials including the hostel warden, who communicated the decision to keep them out of the hostel, to counter the charge of any anti-Dalit bias in the matter.