Stepping up attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of rape of two minors in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he will not let the Prime Minister sleep “peacefully” if “jungle raj prevails” in the Capital.
“The Prime Minister must understand that I am not (previous Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit. I will not remain silent,” he said. Dikshit had accused Kejriwal of indulging in blame game on Saturday.
After a meeting with lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Kejriwal lambasted the Centre and the Delhi Police, asserting that he will not remain silent on the issue of women’s security even as investigators claimed to have cracked the case of rape of a two-and-half-year-old child with arrest of two juveniles.
“We will not allow the Prime Minister to sleep peacefully if women in Delhi do not get proper safety and the present trend of rapes continues. That is guaranteed,” Kejriwal said.
Claiming that “jungle raj” was prevailing in the capital, Kejriwal urged Modi not to remain “stubborn” and hand over law and order control to city government for at least one year, a demand he had made on Saturday as well.
Responding to Kejriwal’s jungle raj comment, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said, “These types of remarks should not be given much importance as they are made keeping political positioning in mind. There is no jungle raj in Delhi.”
Without giving details, the Chief Minister said his Government was exploring all options to ensure safety of women and improve overall law and order situation. Sources said the Delhi Government was contemplating approaching the Supreme Court “to fix accountability” of the Delhi Police.
Kejriwal has called a Cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the law and order situation.
In the meeting with Jung, the CM submitted figures of crime against women in the last four years and cases of missing children and requested him to take urgent measures to improve the law and order situation.
A two-and-half-year-old girl and another five-year-old were brutally raped in the capital on Friday, barely a week after a sexual assault of a minor, triggering widespread outrage and a political slugfest.
“We met the l-G along with last four years’ record on crime cases. Around 31,000 cases of crime against women were recorded. Out of these, chargesheets were filed in only 13,000 cases. In 18,000 cases, there was no charge sheet. Only 146 people were punished overall. So you can see how safe our women are,” the Chief Minister said.
BJP attacked Kejriwal over his jungle raj comments, saying his outburst on the city’s security scenario was a mere “political skullduggery”.
In the 45-minute-long meeting which was attended by several top officials, Kejriwal questioned the “control” over police, emphasising that they must be made accountable.
Jung on the other hand assured the Chief Minister that all possible measures will be taken to improve security of women in the city.
Kejriwal said people of Delhi are “very angry” over the rapes and that there was a sense of insecurity among them. “Rapists know that they commit crime and get away with it,” he said.
Meanwhile, investigators said two juveniles have been apprehended in connection with the rape of the toddler at west Delhi’s Nihal Vihar area. In the second incident, a five-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by a co-tenant and two of his associates at a slum cluster in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar area last evening.