Was told I will be called 'BJP agent' if I filed complaint against Kejriwal’s aide: Maliwal

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who has accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her, has claimed in an interview that after the alleged assault, the party told her not to file a police complaint in the case while assuring that Kejriwal would take action against Bibhav.

In an interview with ANI, Maliwal also claimed that she was told that the party would label her as an agent of the BJP and that nobody would stand with her if she filed a complaint.

She said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) initially supported her when she made the allegations, but later turned around and accused her of trying to frame Kejriwal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi on May 25.

Maliwal said AAP MP Sanjay Singh met her at her home after the incident and assured her that Kejriwal would attend to the matter and take action against his aide. He even held a press conference the next day and said that “Swati is a very vocal voice for women in this country” and that she was hit badly.

But Bibhav accompanied the Delhi chief minister to Lucknow for a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav. And she was told that the entire party would isolate her if she filed a complaint.

‘My character assassinated daily’

“The day I lodged the complaint, when I woke up, what came to my mind was the lakhs of girls who had come to me, with such severe crimes. I always gave them courage, and I always told them that no matter what happens, you should fight, even if the whole world turns against you, you should fight. Even if you have to fight all alone, you should fight. That’s why when I woke up, I felt so guilty that I dared so many women to fight, and when I faced such a situation, why am I not filing a complaint. I have to file a formal complaint because it is a criminal case. This is not a case that the party can brush off under the carpet. That’s why I filed a complaint,” said the former chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.

Maliwal said that after she filed the complaint against Bibhav, “all hell broke loose in her life”, and the whole party was ranged against her, and press conferences were being held daily.

“My character assassination is being done every day. I am unable to understand how this happened and why this happened. Every day, they say that I am an agent of the BJP,” she added.

She reacted to Kejriwal’s statement that he “supports free and fair police investigation” with, “They conducted an out-of-court trial and I was found guilty. The party is trying to convict me, so how can they say that there should be a free and fair investigation?”

Delhi minister Atishi’s allegation

The Rajya Sabha MP also referred to the allegations by Delhi minister Atishi that she was being “blackmailed” by the BJP over a 2016 corruption case against her and was being forced to become part of the “conspiracy” against the chief minister.

Atishi had said, “The BJP has a pattern. First they file cases and then threaten to send leaders to jail. Swati Maliwal is facing charges in an illegal recruitment case registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch.”

Maliwal said, “The case filed against me in 2016 is absolutely a false case. A chargesheet was filed in 2017. I was never arrested in this case and will never be arrested because the chargesheet has been filed. Around one-and-a-half-years ago, the High Court put a stay on the case and said if there are no transactions, then how can there be corruption. Therefore, in this case, in which the High Court has already given a stay, should I be afraid?”