Another AAP MLA booked for molestation, assault

Days after AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a woman who had approached him with water woes, another legislator from the party is in trouble over similar charges.

This time, it is the AAP MLA from Deoli, Prakash Jarwal, who has been booked for allegedly molesting and assaulting a woman in early June.

The woman approached the Greater Kailash police station on Wednesday with her complaint. A case of assault and using criminal force with an intent to outrage the modesty of a woman was registered against him.

Mr. Jarwal claimed innocence and said the complaint was politically motivated.

He alleged that the woman was associated with a political party and has even contested local elections in the past. “My friends in the area say she has been close to BJP for sometime now,” he alleged.

The woman, a resident of Sangam Vihar, has claimed that she was on a visit to a Delhi Jal Board office in Greater Kailash when the incident took place.

“When I reached the office, the MLA’s men noticed me and began abusing me for persisting with my water woes. They hurled verbal abuses at me,” the woman was quoted as saying in her complaint.

Within minutes, Mr. Jarwal, a Delhi Jal Board member, arrived there and began abusing her, she alleged. The MLA went on to push her by her chest, almost causing her to fall, she added in her complaint.

Giving his side of the story, Mr. Jarwal said that the woman did visit the DJB office, but on June 3 and not a day earlier as claimed by her.

“The DJB office was being inaugurated that day. There were scores of people there, including people from the TV media. The woman requested me for water tankers and I told her I would try my best. Then I left in my car. Had the alleged incident taken place, the media would have definitely captured it,” he said.

Senior police officers said they are still investigating the allegations. No decision on the MLA’s arrest has been taken yet.