PA for Arvind Kejriwal is accused of “punching, kicking” Swati Maliwal at the chief minister’s residence

In an odd turn of events, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, dubbed the “Lady Singham of Delhi” for her selfless efforts to help women in need, filed a formal complaint with the Delhi Police on Thursday, alleging that she had been attacked three days before by Bibhav Kumar, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant.

In response to the claims, Kumar was charged by the Delhi Police with assault, criminal intimidation, and outraging a woman’s modesty. Every relevant part of the IPC was slapped. This happened a few hours after Kumar received a summons from the National Commission for Women (NCW).

The police recorded Maliwal’s seven-page complaint at the AAP MP’s Central Delhi home, adding to the political uproar already building over Kejriwal’s lack of response on the issue today. It includes claims that Kumar kicked Maliwal in the lower body, slapped her, and attacked her in the stomach and chest.

According to sources who quoted the complaint, “The CM was at his residence while the assault happened in the drawing room.” In an attack on the AAP, the BJP said that Kejriwal was “anti-women and anti-justice while swearing to lead a party of common people.”

After Kejriwal sidestepped questions about the matter in Lucknow, the BJP boxed the AAP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled on May 25 in Delhi and Haryana and June 1 in Chandigarh and Punjab. In Dehi and Haryana, the AAP is standing as an alliance with the Congress, while in Punjab, where it is in power, it is running alone. Maliwal went to X after submitting the complaint today, pleading with the BJP “not to play politics on the issue.”

“A critical election is now taking place; the nation is more important than Swati Maliwal. I urge the BJP to abstain from political activity. I really hope that the right steps are done, since what transpired with me was rather horrible. I’ve had a very hard time these last several days. Those that prayed, I thank you. Character assassination attempts were made, she claimed on X, after the support shown by Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha head Richa Mishra, who wrote in a letter to her that the matter concerned the honor of all women.

Throughout the day, the leaders of the opposing INDIA group were silent on the matter. At a joint news conference with Akhilesh Yadav, the head of the SP, Kejriwal himself laughed when asked the question in Lucknow and handed the microphone to his AAP colleague Sanjay Singh.

It was sufficient for Sanjay to state, “We have already clarified our stand in the matter.” Yadav said, “There are more significant things than that (Maliwal’s attack).

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the Congress, too refrained from answering directly. “I never back down from a woman who is being mistreated. Since she is the leader of AAP, they will talk between themselves on this issue. According to Priyanka, this is up to them in Raebareli.

Although Sanjay had already admitted to the attack, nothing happened as a result. Since Maliwal claimed to have been assaulted, the BJP has questioned the AAP about Kumar’s regular presence near key leaders Kejriwal and Sanjay, without lodging a complaint.

However, Maliwal, the former head of the Delhi Women’s Commission, spoke up today, spending four and a half hours recording a statement with a pair of Delhi Police officers under the direction of Additional Commissioner PS Kushwaha.

Maliwal was to have a medical examination to determine the degree of her injuries after the filing of the FIR. Ironically, Maliwal was at the mercy of troubled women as the DCW leader, to whose rescue the NCW came today, and Kejriwal had himself first invented the moniker “Lady Singham” for her.