Political storm over Parvesh ‘slapping’ AAP worker intensifies

The political storm over Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh slapping an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker intensified on Tuesday, when the Delhi Police forcibly removed and detained AAP leaders who had gone to submit a complaint to the Police Commissioner.

The AAP alleged that police personnel tore the clothes of a Dalit councillor from the party near the Commissioner’s office. The party also filed a written complaint seeking an FIR against several male police officers for allegedly touching and sexually harassing women workers.

Hitting back, the BJP said that the AAP’s continued protests, even after the Delhi Police registered cases against the Minister, Mr. Jarnail Singh and others, were “condemnable” and an attempt to “vitiate” Delhi’s political atmosphere.

On Sunday, the Minister allegedly slapped an aide of Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh of the AAP during an inspection of a newly laid road on the Vikaspuri stretch of the Outer Ring Road.

Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj submitted a written complaint to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) and the Delhi Police Commissioner seeking an FIR against Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nirmal, Vikaspuri Station House Officer (SHO) Ghanshyam Kishore and other police personnel over the alleged assault and detention of AAP workers. He alleged that several male police officers improperly touched and molested women workers who were sitting peacefully, and that police personnel strangled him until he lost consciousness before women workers rescued him. He demanded that an FIR be registered against the Minister, his associates and the police officers involved, and that appropriate criminal action be taken against all those responsible.

“This is the standard of Amit Shah’s police. When a ‘gunda’ controls the police, all he can teach them is ‘goondagardi’. Senior IPS officers, who cleared the IPS examination to join the service, are participating in these despicable conspiracies. This gives you an idea of the state Delhi Police has been reduced to today,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.

AAP’s Dalit councillor Daulat Pawar submitted a written complaint to the Commissioner against two plainclothes Delhi Police personnel, alleging that they abused him with a casteist slur and pushed him, the party said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the Delhi Police had registered cases against the Minister, Mr. Jarnail Singh and others following the “unfortunate incident” in Vikaspuri, which he alleged was orchestrated by Mr. Jarnail Singh.

“While it is true that MLA Jarnail Singh has been winning elections continuously since 2013, it is also a fact that allegations have been levelled against him from the very beginning of harassing Municipal Corporation and government employees, builders and contractors of various government departments, and making various demands from them,” he said.

He said that while the incident involving the Minister should never have happened, the revelations regarding Mr. Jarnail Singh had brought his record into focus. “AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj is continuing to stage protests even after legal action, in an attempt to divert the attention of the people of Delhi and Tilak Nagar,” he said.