Swati Maliwal case update: The Delhi High Court on June 14 has sought the city police's stand on the bail plea of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar in connection with the alleged assault on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Swati Maliwal.
According to a PTI report, a vacation bench led by Justice Amit Sharma has issued a notice regarding Bibhav Kumar's bail plea. The bench has instructed the Delhi Police to submit a status report. The matter would be heard next in the first week of July.
Bibhav Kumar was arrested by the Delhi Police on May 18 in connection with the case. He is currently in judicial custody. Earlier on June 7, the Tis Hazari court had refused to grant Kumar bail, saying that he was facing "grave and serious" charges and that there was an apprehension that he could influence witnesses.
This is not the first time his bail plea was rejected. On May 27, Kumar's first bail plea was dismissed by another sessions court which said there appeared to be no "pre-meditation" by Maliwal in lodging the FIR and that her allegations could not be "swiped away".
Swati Maliwal was also called “BJP agent” while some came out in support of her. Nirbhaya's mother has come out in support of the AAP Rajya Sabha MP. “There should be an investigation into this [assault case] because he's the chief minister, public trusts him, he himself says he is the son and brother of Delhi residents, then he should speak up, take action against the guilty, he should support Swati [Maliwal] because she has worked with him for women for 8-10 years, she helped many women, Swati Maliwal should get justice,” Nirbhaya's mother had said. Maliwal also claimed that the AAP leadership is trying to intimidate her into withdrawing her complaint.
The AAP MP had alleged that she was slapped and kicked by Bibhav Kumar when she had gone to meet the CM at his residence on May 13. However, AAP leadership has rejected all the allegation, terming them baseless.
(With inputs from PTI)
