Swati Maliwal Assault case: War of Words Between BJP, AAP Over Victim Shaming

New Delhi: The arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal has kept politics in the national capital on the boil. While the BJP is accusing the ruling AAP of "victim shaming", the AAP claims that Ms Maliwal was “blackmailed” by the BJP as she faces a corruption case.

Amid a war of words between the BJP and the AAP, Mr Kejriwal finally broke his silence hours after the arrest of his PA and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is playing "Jail ka Khel" with the AAP. The AAP chief said he and other party leaders will go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday “so that the Prime Minister can send anyone he wishes to jail”.

A Delhi police team picked up Mr Kumar from the CM's residence when he had gone there to meet Mr Kejriwal. Before his arrest, Mr Kumar wrote to the police, saying that he is ready to cooperate in their investigation, but the cops should also consider his complaint against Ms Maliwal.

In the evening, Mr Kumar was produced before a court, which reserved its order on the plea of 7-day police custody. The police accused Mr Kumar of attempting to destroy evidence at the CM's residence and said that his custody is necessary for questioning.

Opposing the police custody plea, Mr Kumar's counsel argued that the police is distorting facts.

Earlier in the day, high drama unfolded in the court when Mr Kumar applied for the anticipatory bail plea, which the court stated became infructuous as he was already arrested.

Police said till now they have recorded the statements of at least 10 people, including Mr Kumar, the security personnel and other staff at the CM's residence, who were present at the time of the incident.

According to a police officer, Mr Kumar was interrogated about the reason he went to the CM's house on Saturday morning. The police suspect that he intended to tamper with the evidence.

“As soon as the police got to know about Mr Kumar's presence at the CM's residence, a team from the local police station was sent to nab him,” said the official. adding that they have also asked Mr Kumar about his whereabouts at the time of the filing of the FIR against him on Thursday.

During questioning, the police officers asked Mr Kejriwal's aide multiple questions about what happened at the CM's residence on May 13 and what he was doing at the CM residence when Ms Maliwal arrived there at 9 am. They also asked him about Mr Kejriwal's presence at his home on the day of the incident.

In a related development, another purported video of Ms Maliwal visit to the CM's residence from the day of the incident surfaced online, in which a woman security personnel is seen holding Ms Maliwal by her arm while escorting her out of the CM's residence. As they exit the main gate, the AAP MP frees her arm from the security personnel's grip.

Reacting to Mr Kumar’s claim in court that his phone was formatted in Mumbai due to some malfunctioning in the device, Ms Maliwal, in a social media post late on Saturday evening, said, "First, Mr Kumar beat me brutally. He slapped and kicked me. When I freed myself and called 112, he went outside, called security, and started making a video. I was screaming and telling the security that Mr Kumar had beaten me brutally. That entire long part of the video was edited. Only 50 seconds were released when I was fed up with explaining to the security guys. Now they formatted the phone and deleted the entire video? CCTV footage is also missing! Even conspiracy has its limits!”

Wading into the controversy, the Delhi BJP accused AAP leaders of circulating "edited" videos to tarnish the image of their own party MP.

"It is regrettable that "edited" videos are being circulated on social media groups since Friday in an attempt to "defame" Ms Maliwal," Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed.

Defending Mr Kumar, senior AAP leader Atishi said if the Delhi police is impartial, it should also register an FIR on Mr Kumar's complaint.

She claimed the former DCW chief faces arrest in an illegal recruitment case and she was "blackmailed" by the BJP to become part of a "conspiracy" against Mr Kejriwal.

The AAP MP's medical examination report, which came out on Saturday, states that she suffered bruises on her left thigh, right cheek and below the right eye.