The Delhi BJP on Saturday demanded Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to suspend Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal for a fair police probe into her alleged molestation charges. Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi too joined several other BJP leaders in slamming the AAP over Maliwal’s molestation claims, alleging it was part of a conspiracy hatched by Delhi’s ruling party to defame the national Capital.
The incident in question allegedly took place outside AIIMS on the intervening night of January 18 and 19.
In a letter to the Lt Governor, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor requested him to suspend Maliwal till the completion of the police enquiry into the incident of alleged molestation with her on January 19.
Kapoor said reports indicate the man accused of molesting the DCW chief is an AAP worker. Everyone condemned the incident and it was satisfying to note that the Delhi Police acted swiftly after the incident was reported and arrested the accused within an hour, Kapoor said.
“...But social media reports on this, as well as media reports, indicate that the eve teaser involved Harish Chandra Suryavanshi is an active worker of Delhi’s ruling AAP from Sangam Vihar,” the BJP spokesperson said. There are photographs of Suryavanshi campaigning with an AAP MLA, he added.
“This development revealing eve-teaser’s connection with AAP has exposed Maliwal and she will try her best to influence police inquiry in the matter by using her constitutional office,” Kapoor alleged.
He urged the LG to suspend Maliwal from the post of DCW chairperson till the inquiry of the alleged molestation incident is completed so that she cannot “misuse her position” to “influence” it, Kapoor wrote in his letter.
Hitting out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lekhi asked how far he would go to defame and destroy Delhi. The man the DCW chairperson has accused of molesting her is an AAP member, Lekhi said and claimed that the allegations were part of a plan to defame Delhi.
Maliwal stood her ground as she tweeted: “Let me tell those who think that they will scare me by telling dirty lies about me. I have done many big things in this short life by tying a shroud on my head. I had many attacks but I did not stop. With every atrocity the fire inside me grew stronger. No one can suppress my voice. I will keep fighting as long as I am alive!.”
BJP leaders are of the view that Maliwal, appointed by the AAP Government, staged the incident to target Delhi Police, which comes under the Centre. The BJP had on Friday also raised questions over DCW chief Maliwal’s molestation claims, alleging that the person she accused is an AAP member and her “drama” was part of a conspiracy that was “exposed”.
BJP leaders Manoj Tiwari, Shazia Ilmi and its Delhi unit Working President Virendra Sachdeva had earlier attacked the AAP over the accused’s alleged association with the party. Sachdeva had shared a photo in which the accused was seen campaigning with AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal.