The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accepted party's Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal's claims that she was assaulted by the Personal Secretary of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The party also said that Arvind Kejriwal will take strict action against PS Bibhav Kumar.
The incident, which took place on Monday morning at the Chief Minister's residence, came to light after Maliwal went to the Civil Lines police station and said that Arvind Kejriwal's personal staff misbehaved with her. Maliwal also made PCR calls after the said assault.
In a first public statement on the issue, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh confirmed the incident and said that the Chief Minister has taken cognisance of the matter and will take strict action.
"Yesterday, Maliwal had gone to meet Arvind Kejriwal at his residence. While she was waiting to meet him in the drawing room, Bibhav Kumar misbehaved with her. This is a highly condemnable incident. Kejriwal has taken cognisance of it and will take strict action in the incident," Sanjay Singh said while addressing a press conference.
Singh also termed it a "condemnable incident".
Swati Maliwal has done significant work for the country and society. She is one of the oldest and senior leaders of the party. We all stand with her," he added.
Reacting to Sanjay Singh's press conference, Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva alleged that Swati Maliwal is being silenced due to political pressure and efforts are being made to suppress the entire incident.
"A woman was misbehaved with inside the Chief Minister's residence and you are saying that cognisance will be taken. This only shows that AAP is insensitive. If such an incident happens with a woman at the CM residence, who is responsible? At that very moment, the police should have been called. Even after 26 hours, police are not talking about taking any action. Swati Maliwal is being silenced due to political pressure and efforts are being made to suppress the entire incident," Sachdeva said while speaking to news agency ANI.
On Monday, police received a PCR call at 9.34 am from a woman who said she had been assaulted at the Delhi Chief Minister's residence. "After some time, MP madam came to the police station. However, she left stating she will give a complaint later," Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) M K Meena told reporters.
Notably, police have not yet received a formal complaint from Maliwal about the matter.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) condemned the assault on Swati Maliwal and said that it will be sending an inquiry team to look into the matter.
