New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal here on Friday raised a sharp criticism against her party for dismissing her assault allegations against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar as baseless and said the AAP has given in under a "goon's pressure" and is now questioning her character.
She said, the party took a "U-turn" two days after it accepted that Kumar had "misbehaved" with her.
Her reaction came after AAP leader Atishi at a press conference said that the assault case is a BJP conspiracy to frame Kejriwal. Maliwal is the "face" of this "conspiracy" and the allegations levelled by her against Kumar are "baseless", Atishi said.
Taking to X, Maliwal in a post in Hindi, said, "The leaders who joined the party (AAP) yesterday declared a worker who has been with it for 20 years an agent of the BJP. Two days ago, the party had accepted the truth in a press conference and, today, it has taken a U-turn."
On Tuesday, senior AAP leader and MP Sanjay Singh had said that the incident with Maliwal was "highly condemnable" and had claimed that Kumar had "misbehaved" with her.
Without naming Kumar, she said, "This goon is threatening the party (AAP) saying that 'if I get arrested, I will reveal all the secrets'. That is why he is roaming around in Lucknow and everywhere seeking shelter."
"Today, under his pressure, the party gave in and to save a goon, my character was questioned by the entire party. No problem, I have been fighting alone for women of the entire country, I will fight for myself too. Do character assassination as much as possible, the truth will come out when the time comes," Maliwal said on X.
The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Kumar for allegedly assaulting Maliwal at the chief minister's official residence. Atishi said that Kumar has also filed a police complaint against Maliwal.
The Case
Swati Maliwal has alleged that she was assaulted by Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar at the CM's official residence on May 13. The details of the alleged assault emerged on Friday as the Rajya Sabha MP appeared before a magistrate at the Tis Hazari court to record her statement in the case. In the FIR regarding the alleged assault on her, Maliwal claimed that Kumar hit her with "full force again and again" but no one came to her rescue. She also alleged that despite telling Kumar that she was menstruating and in pain, he did not budge.
According to the FIR, she had gone to meet Kejriwal at his official residence at 9 am on Monday. Recalling the events, she told police that she went inside the camp office and called Kumar but could not get through. She went towards the residential area and asked the staff to inform Kejriwal about her arrival.
"I was informed that he was present in the house and I was told to wait in the drawing room," she said. She said while she was waiting for Kejriwal, Kumar barged into the room and started screaming at her without any provocation and even started abusing her.
"He slapped me seven-eight times at least while I continued screaming. I felt absolutely shocked and was screaming for help over and over again. In order to protect (myself), pushed him away with my legs," she said.
"At that time, he pounced on me, brutally dragged me and deliberately pulled my shirt up. My shirt buttons opened and the shirt came up. I landed on the floor while hitting my head on the centre table. I was constantly screaming for help but no one came, He did not relent and attacked me by kicking me in my chest, stomach" and lower part of the body "with his legs",” she added.
Recalling the time, she said she was "deeply traumatised" and called the emergency number 112 to inform about the incident.
Bibhav threatened me and said, "You can do whatever you want, you cannot harm us. We will break your bones and bury you at a place where no one would even get to know".
Police said they have collected footage from eight CCTV cameras of the CM house to establish the sequence of the incident. They have also recorded the statements of a few security personnel who were present during the time of the incident. A police team also went to Kumar's residence in the Civil Lines area but he was not there. Half a dozen teams have been formed to trace Kumar, who is suspected to be in Punjab, according to police. Two teams have been sent to Punjab, an officer said.
(With PTI inputs)
