Maliwal assault case: Kejriwal's aide fails to appear before NCW
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar did not appear before the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Friday in connection with alleged assault on Aam Aadmi Party MP Swati Maliwal. The NCW had summoned Kumar to appear before it at 11:00am. NCW chief Rekha Sharma said a team of the commission had gone to Kumar's residence on Thursday to serve him a notice but he was not home.
NCW chief criticizes Kejriwal's indifference to public opinion
Sharma also criticized Kejriwal's attitude toward the case. "I think...the Delhi CM is showing that 'I don't care for anything, I don't care about whatever you are thinking.' He is not with the woman but with her perpetrator," Sharma said. "I think he (Kejriwal) has chosen his side. He does not want to be with Maliwal. He believes in Bibhav more than her," she added.
Kumar booked for allegedly assaulting Maliwal
Kumar has been booked under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe) and 506 (criminal intimidation), on Thursday. In the FIR, Maliwal claimed she was hit on the stomach, slapped, and kicked by Kumar in Kejriwal's drawing room while the CM was present in the house. After the complaint was registered, Maliwal was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for check-up.
Delhi Police receives distress call
The case came to light on Monday, when the Delhi Police said it received two distress calls from Kejriwal's residence that Maliwal had been assaulted there. The callers claimed that Kejriwal's aide, Kumar, prevented the former Delhi Commission for Women chairperson from meeting with the CM at his residence and allegedly harassed her. On the same day, Maliwal visited the Civil Lines Police Station but left without lodging any complaint.
Maliwal released a statement on X
In her first statement since the alleged assault, Maliwal urged the Bharatiya Janata Party not to make the incident a political issue. "What happened to me was very bad. I have given my statement to the police on the incident that happened to me. I hope that appropriate action will be taken." "An important election is going on in the country, Swati Maliwal is not important, the issues of the country are important," she wrote on X.
