'Not giving clean chit to anybody, Kejriwal was at home': Swati Maliwal on assault

Days after being reportedly assaulted by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar, AAP MP Swati Maliwal has said that she is not giving clean chit to anybody. She reiterated that the chief minister was at home when she was attacked by his aide.

Recounting her ordeal while talking to news agency ANI, Maliwal said she was slapped seven to eight times, dragged by her foot, and her head had hit the table when she was assaulted on May 13. She said she kept screaming throughout, but no one came to her rescue. “I am not giving a clean chit to anybody. Arvind Kejriwal was at home when the assault happened,” she said.

Significantly, Maliwal made it clear that she would have happily resigned from the Rajya Sabha had the party asked her respectfully to do so. “However, now I will not resign come what may. I know this is precisely the reason that they are resorting to character assassination and victim shaming. But I will not quit now, rather I will work very hard and will become an ideal parliamentarian.”

‘Didn’t think of career’

Narrating the sequence of events, Maliwal said she had gone to the chief minister's residence at 9 am and staff members had asked her to wait in the drawing room.

“They told me Arvindji is at home and is coming to meet me. In the meantime, Bibhav Kumar stormed into the room and I just asked him, ‘What happened? Arvindji is coming, what happened?’ and he started attacking me. He slapped me hard seven to eight times. When I tried to push him, he held my foot and dragged me. My head hit the centre table,” the MP told ANI.

She said he then began kicking her. “I kept screaming at the top of my voice, but no one came to my rescue,” she said. Asked whether she was claiming that Kumar was following someone’s instructions, Maliwal said, “This is a matter of investigation and I am cooperating with the Delhi police. At the same time, I’m not giving anyone a clean chit. The fact is that I was in the drawing room, Arvind Kejriwal was at home and I was beaten up very badly. I screamed and shouted, but no one came.”

The AAP MP said she did not think about her career or what she consequences she will have to face before raising her voice. “I just thought that I had to live by what I have always told women - that they should stand by the truth, make truthful complaints and fight if they have been wronged. So how can I not fight,” she wondered.

Free and fair probe

Reacting to Maliwal's claims, Kejriwal had said on Wednesday that he wants a free and fair investigation, but had stressed that there are two versions to every event.

“I expect there will be a fair investigation. Justice should be served. There are two versions of the event. Police should investigate both versions fairly and justice should be done,” the chief minister had said.

However, Maliwal had hit back, stating it was ironic that the person who had “assassinated her character” and called her a “BJP agent” was now calling for a free and fair probe