Maliwal Remains Incommunicado, Yet to File Complaint Over Alleged Assault
Delhi Police on Monday received two calls from Kejriwal’s residence, claiming the lawmaker was assaulted when Maliwal went there to meet him
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councilors on Tuesday disrupted a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) meeting over the assault Swati Maliwal allegedly suffered at the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence a day earlier even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member was yet to file a police complaint and remained incommunicado for a second day.
Delhi Police on Monday received two calls from Kejriwal’s residence, claiming the lawmaker was assaulted when Maliwal, who was out of the country for weeks and was largely absent during the chief minister’s internment in the excise police case, went there to meet him. Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar allegedly prevented her from meeting Kejriwal before the calls were made.
“No complaint has been lodged by Rajya Sabha MP [member of Parliament] Swati Maliwal until now in the matter,” said a police officer.
Maliwal, a former Delhi Women’s Commission’s chief, did not take calls or reply to messages seeking her comments for the second day. Her associates did the same. Maliwal has not made any public appearance or posted anything on social media since the calls about the alleged assault were made.
The police were likely to send an action taken report to the National Commission for Women (NCW), which took cognisance of the matter. In a post on X on Monday, the NCW said Maliwal was reportedly assaulted while vowing action and demanding justice. It said it would depute an inquiry team and added perpetrators must be held accountable.
HT on Tuesday reported that the caller did not mention her name in the first of the two calls made about the alleged assault. In the second call around 9.34am, the caller told the police that her name was Swati Maliwal and that Kumar was manhandling her.
Police said Maliwal arrived at Kejriwal’s residence around 9.10am on Monday and unsuccessfully sought a meeting. Maliwal later went to the Civil Lines Police station, but she left saying she would file a complaint later.
The BJP has demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. “There is pressure on Maliwal to not speak. A thorough investigation should be conducted to bring out the truth so that Kejriwal’s misogynistic face can be exposed again,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva on Tuesday.
BJP councilors protested over the alleged assault during the MCD meeting on Tuesday by climbing onto tables while raising slogans against Kejriwal. No discussions could be held at the meeting, prompting its adjournment.
BJP councillor Raja Iqbal Singh said they tabled a “condemnation motion” on the issue of the alleged indecency with Maliwal at the chief minister’s residence. “This incident which took place at the chief minister’s residence…exposes AAP’s anti-women face.”
Singh said the BJP would stand with Maliwal irrespective of her party affiliation. “If there is any misbehaviour with women, we will stand with them.”
Singh said that mayor Shelly Oberoi did now allow the resolution, which called the chief minister’s residence unsafe for women and sought to condemn the purported incident, to be tabled.
Oberoi repeatedly appealed to the BJP councilors to take their seats and finally adjourned the house citing the model code of conduct in place amid the ongoing national polls.
Oberoi said the BJP councillors created a ruckus and did not allow any discussion. “The intention of BJP councilors is just to divert attention from MCD issues…We wanted to debate on issues. Over the last year, the BJP did not allow any standing, special or other committee to be formed. They want to disrupt the functioning of MCD.”
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