AAP on streets to save accused, says Swati Maliwal

New Delhi, May 19  AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal on Sunday while reflecting on the past 12 years since the horrific Nirbhaya case, said that ‘they are now out on the streets to save the accused who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone’.

“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?” she wrote on X.

“I wish they had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. If he had been here, maybe this bad thing wouldn’t have happened to me!” she added in the tweet.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the assault on Maliwal and produced late at night before a local court which sent him to a five-day police custody.

Delhi Police had requested Kumar’s custody, informing the court that the CCTV footage provided to them was blank. They also mentioned that Kumar handed over his mobile phone but did not disclose the password. Additionally, the police claimed that Kumar had formatted his phone a day earlier, citing a malfunction.

The police further explained to the court that before a phone is formatted, its data should be cloned. Therefore, Kumar needed to be taken to Mumbai to retrieve the data, and his presence was essential for an expert to unlock the mobile phone.

Delhi Police registered a case against Kumar for molestation and attempted culpable homicide after he allegedly assaulted AAP Rajya Sabha MP Maliwal at the Chief Minister’s residence on May 13.

The FIR includes charges under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354(B) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station.