Swati Maliwal FIR alleges brutal assault, AAP calls it BJP ploy to frame Arvind Kejriwal

Aditi Tandon & Samad Hoque

New Delhi, May 17

Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal was at the receiving end of her own party’s ire on Friday, hours after the details of her alleged assault by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s private assistant Bibhav Kumar surfaced, eight days before the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi and Haryana.

• Editorail: Assault on Maliwal

The FIR and a statement under Section 164 (CrPC) that Maliwal got recorded accusing Bibhav of “repeatedly slapping, kicking in the chest and pelvis when she had periods and hitting her with full force” was followed by Kejriwal aide’s counter-complaint late evening, alleging misconduct on Maliwal’s part.

Nirmala-Atishi face-off over ‘assault’

After Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the charge from BJP, AAP minister Atishi led the counter. “But this is about justice, not politics; women’s issues are beyond politics,” Sitharaman said. Atishi hit back, saying, “It’s a BJP conspiracy to frame the CM.”

Footage being tampered with, says MP

AAP has buckled under a goon’s pressure… I have received information that the CCTV footage of the CM’s house is being tampered with. Swati Maliwal, Rajya Sabha MP

“I was only preventing Maliwal’s forceful entry into the CM’s residence sensing her intentions to harm the CM; it was she who abused and threatened me,” said Bibhav.

As the Delhi Police took Maliwal to the CM’s Civil Lines residence to recreate the alleged crime scene, a massive political blame game raged in the capital with top AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi accusing Maliwal of “being a pawn in the BJP conspiracy to frame Kejriwal”. The BJP, for its part, fielded Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who slammed Kejriwal’s silence in the matter and sought his apology. “Maliwal was assaulted in his house, in his presence, by his right hand man… this is not about politics, this is about justice,” said Sitharaman.

Maliwal, a former Delhi Commission for Women chief, meanwhile, vowed to fight alone after AAP dubbed her a “BJP agent”, just two days after acknowledging that she had been assaulted. “AAP has succumbed to a goon’s pressure and is questioning my character,” she said, referring to how on Tuesday AAP leader and her Rajya Sabha colleague Sanjay Singh had assured action in the matter acknowledging that the assault happened. Nothing followed though Bibhav was seen by Kejriwal’s side during the Lok Sabha poll campaign in Lucknow — an act Sitharaman called “shameless”. Earlier today, Maliwal’s assault FIR revealed the details of what allegedly happened on May 13 when she went to meet Kejriwal at his residence. The FIR alleged that Kumar hit Maliwal without provocation when she was waiting to see the CM in the drawing room.

“Bibhav Kumar barged into the room. He said to me—tu kaise hamari baat nahi maanegi… samajhti nahi neech aurat, tujhko hum sabak sikhayenge (how dare you disregard us? we will teach you a lesson)… Without provocation, he slapped me at least seven to eight times while I continued screaming…. brutally dragged me, deliberately pulled my shirt up. My buttons opened and the shirt flew up… I hit my head on the centretable after which he did not relent and kicked me in the chest, stomach and pelvis area. I was in extreme pain and kept asking him to stop. My shirt was coming up, but he still continued to assault me. He attacked me with full force again and again,” Maliwal alleged.

She said she dialled 112 after somehow escaping and at this point was “forced to leave the CM’s house”.