Hitting back at the alleged misleading claims of AAP leader Somnath Bharti that he and his wife lipika were not living together since 2011, lipika trashed all allegations during a Press conference at Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Barkha Singh’s residence on Monday. The meet, however, was interrupted by lipika’s mother-in-law who said she was ready to move to an old-age home to keep the couple together.
Seventy-year-old Manorama Rani Bharti made her appearance at the venue with her counsel saying that she had come to meet the women’s panel chief, not her daughter-in-law. “I was pained to know that my daughter-in-law is not staying with my son because of me... I am ready to move to an old-age home if my daughter-in-law can live happily with my son,” she said, adding that “I don’t know anything about the allegations. I want her to come back and stay at home,” she said.
Bharti had earlier alleged that lipika wanted Bharti to leave his mother and settle abroad. Reacting to these claims, lipika on Monday said, “In 2011, my mother-in-law did not let me enter their home in Malviya Nagar claiming that the property belonged to her. And at the same time, his (Bharti’s) brother verbally abused me while Bharti seemed indifferent to the episode.”
“Since our marriage in 2010, there have been many instances when were on the verge of calling it quits, but every time — for some reason or the other —I had to compromise… If we reunite again, he will kill me,” shared lipika. On being asked if Bharti had contacted her recently, she said, “He texted me asking if I had filed a complaint with DCW. When my reply was in the affirmative, he called me ‘crazy’. Post this incident, he suddenly started leaving love messages of which I am unsure if he really did mean and value love.”
Stressing on Bharti’s psyché, lipika revealed that he has anger issues which made him degrade to a level where he once called her a prostitute and asked her to sleep with other men. She also said that the former law Minister has accused her of working for the BJP and being instigated by police. “After my complaint to DCW, he (Bharti) asked me if I was working for the BJP or was I being instigated by police,” said lipika.
lipika also reiterated her claims with a picture of dog’s bite marks, e-mails she had sent to Bharti and a doctor’s prescription during her pregnancy. On being asked about her expectations from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as he tends to support women, lipika said in disappointment, “I haven’t heard from him since I expected him to listen to my side of the story.”
Meanwhile, extending her full support for lipika, Barkha Singh said, “lipika called me and was upset over his statement asserting that the two were separated since 2011, which disturbed her. leave aside DCW, I would continue to help her in this struggle against such an abusive husband.” In her complaint to DCW on June 10, lipika had alleged harassment by her mother-in-law too. She also refuted the allegations of mistreating Bharti’s mother and said, “If his (Bharti’s) mother denied my entry to her house, how can I be blamed for not wanting to live with his motherIJ”
Emphasising on Bharti’s so-called involvement with his family, she said, “He used to come only at night to the residence (lipika’s rented apartment in Dwarka) and that only when he found the need to.” Rendering a solution to the problem, lipika demanded separation from her husband and suitable action to be taken against him.