‘12 years after Nirbhaya, out on streets to save accused’: Swati Maliwal slams AAP’s protest

Says she wouldn't have faced the situation if Manish Sisodia was out of prison

Swati Maliwal (File) AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal leaves Tis Hazari Court after she recorded her statement | PTI

Aam Aadmi Party MP Swati Maliwal has criticised the party’s protest in the national capital following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bhibav Kumar in the alleged assault case on Sunday. Maliwal charged 12 years after Nirbhaya, the party is out on the streets, protesting to save an accused.

Maliwal tweeted, “There was a time when we all came out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya. Today, after 12 years, we are out on the streets to save the accused who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone?” The former chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women said this wouldn’t have happened to her if former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was out of prison. “I wish I had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. If he had been here, maybe this bad thing wouldn't have happened to me!”

Kejriwal’s aide Bhibav Kumar was arrested by Delhi police on Saturday for allegedly assaulting Maliwal at the Delhi CM’s residence on May 13. Bibhav Kumar was sent to five-day police custody on Saturday night by Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal. Seeking his custody, the Delhi police said they needed to question Kumar about the incident and to retrieve data from his phone.

In a press conference held after Bibhav Kumar's arrest, Kejriwal said: "They are after our party and sending our leaders to jail one after another... Today you have sent my PA to jail," he said. He added that the BJP was saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too.

"I along with my MLAs and MPs would go to the BJP office at noon tomorrow so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail," he said. "The AAP is an idea. For as many AAP leaders you jail, the country would produce leaders a hundred times more," Kejriwal said.

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