Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal’s family has finally broken its silence amid allegations by her that she was assaulted by a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal at the Delhi chief minister’s residence. While the former DCW chairperson has not been seen or heard from after she visited a police station over the incident on May 13, her mother said she is not in a condition to talk to anyone at the moment.
After a team of the Delhi Police was at her residence for more than four hours, Swati Maliwal has lodged a formal police complaint in the matter. She has accused Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal’s personal staff member, of misbehaving with and assaulting her. Earlier in the day, Bibhav was summoned by the National Commission for Women (NCW) over the allegations, and will be appearing before it on Friday (May 17) at 11 am.
According to a report published on Republic TV, when Swati’s mother Sangita Maliwal was asked if her daughter and the family were being “threatened”, she said the MP will only speak “when the time is right”. Sangita expressed concern over her daughter’s condition and told the news channel: “We are not in a state to talk… It’s her fight, and only she will speak when the time is right. I am thankful to the media for supporting us in our tough times.”
The BJP, meanwhile, hit out at Kejriwal for evading media questions in the matter, and alleged he is behaving more like a “goon”. The AAP convener was addressing a press conference earlier in the day at Lucknow with Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav where he was asked about the incident.
Kejriwal avoided the question and it was fielded by AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was also there. Singh said his party has already made its stand clear on the issue.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva assailed the CM for skipping media queries, and demanded he resign immediately, taking responsibility for the incident. BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed Kejriwal is the main “criminal” in the incident. He also referred to a telephone call Maliwal had made to the Delhi Police to report the matter on the day of the incident.
“His (Kejriwal’s) silence speaks a lot. Out of jail, he is more a ‘goonda’ than a chief minister,” Bhatia told reporters.
Bibhav Kumar, Bhatia noted, was photographed with Kejriwal during his visit to Lucknow. At the press conference, Sanjay Singh also cited incidents of crimes against women in Manipur, women wrestlers’ complaint against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and the Prajwal Revanna case to hit back at the BJP. The AAP has made its stand clear in the Maliwal case and no one should play politics over it, he said.
Bhatia noted that Singh had acknowledged that a condemnable incident had occurred against Maliwal, saying Kejriwal was expected to act in a case involving a party colleague. Instead, the accused is travelling with him like a “twin brother”, he said.
“This shows Kejriwal has no commitment to justice for women, while the BJP is fighting for justice for an opposition leader,” he said, accusing him of cowardice.
He demanded the AAP leader should break his silence, or if he is a coward, he should resign, Bhatia said. Saying the woman Rajya Sabha MP has been incommunicado since the incident, the BJP leader asked if she has been kidnapped or forcibly kept away from the public eye.
(With PTI inputs)
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