AAP women MLAs to raise safety issue with Rajnath Singh

Launching an attack on the Centre over the issue of women’s safety in the wake of the death of a 14-year-old dalit rape victim, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday said that its women MLAs will meet home minister Rajnath Singh to ask what steps the Delhi police has taken to address the issue.

AAP’s Delhi unit convenor, Dilip Pandey, said that while the Centre is prompt in making use of Delhi police to arrest legislators, it does not show the same enthusiasm in dealing with the issue of women’s safety.

He said the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has been demanding formation of a committee comprising of the home minister, lieutenant governor, chief minister and representatives of the DCW to address the issue but has found little success.

“The graph of crime against women in Delhi is increasing. We don’t see any explicit steps on the part of the police, which comes under the Centre, to address the issue of security of women. Our women MLAs and youth wing will meet the home minister on Tuesday and raise pertinent points,” Mr Pandey said.

A 14-year-old dalit girl who was repeatedly assaulted sexually and was forced to drink a corrosive substance, died at a hospital on Sunday. The party’s Burari MLA, Sanjeev Jha, said that had there been prompt action by the police against the criminals in the case, the girl would have probably been saved. “The girl was kidnapped twice and her family was threatened. She was even given an acidic substance to drink which rendered 70 per cent of her organs dysfunctional. Had the police taken timely action, the girl could have been saved,” Mr Jha said.

The case also prompted an anguished DCW chief, Swati Maliwal, to lash out at the Centre and Delhi police on the issue of women’s safety. It also evoked sharp criticism from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday.