The Swati Maliwal incident
By Justice Markandey Katju
A lot of hue and cry is being raised about the alleged misbehaviour of Bibhav Kumar, Personal Assistant to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who reportedly attacked and physically assaulted AAP MP Swati Maliwal recently.
My own opinion is that it is Swati Maliwal who is mainly, if not entirely, to blame for this incident.
This is because she entered Kejriwal's residence without his permission. It is a criminal tresspass under section 448 Indian Penal Code to enter anyone's house without the owner's permission. If Swati wanted to meet Kejriwal at his residence she should have sought an appointment by phoning him or a member of his staff, but evidently she did not do this, but simply barged into his house and created a ruckus. She evidently thought that being an MP she need not follow any law, and could do anything, particularly since she belonged to the party in power.
Bibhav Kumar has filed a written complaint with the police which was shared by AAP's official X (formerly Twitter) handle, stating that Maliwal illegally entered the Chief Minister's residence and created a security breach.
In this complaint it is stated :
“Swati Maliwal forcefully and unauthorizedly entered the Chief Minister's residence. Not only did she breach the security of CM residence, created a ruckus and assaulted the complainant; she is now trying to falsely implicate the undersigned complainant so as to create undue pressure on him,"
Kumar said Maliwal came to the Chief Minister's residence and sought permission to enter. The security officer present at the main entry of the CM residence inquired about her identity. After her identity was ascertained, the MP told the security officers to clear her path and allow her to enter as she had an appointment with the Chief Minister.
The said security officer requested her to wait till he got the details of her appointment verified. Upon verification the said security officer informed her that there was no such appointment on record and therefore he could not allow her to enter," the complaint read, wherein Kumar added that Maliwal “forcefully entered the CM residence despite the objections of the staff".
“So not only made false claims of having an appointment so as to gain entry into the CM residence, she forcefully and illegally trespassed into the premises despite the repeated objections of the security and CM office staff," he said.
Kumar said that the MP started shouting and abusing the CM's office staff when she was asked to wait outside the main building of the CM residence.
“At around 9:00 am on May 13, despite strong objections of the CM office staff, she stormed out of the waiting area and entered the main building of CM residence, where the CM resides."
Kumar, in his detailed complaint describing the event said he had approached Maliwal and politely requested her to follow the proper procedure for meeting the CM.
However, Kumar claimed that she then started screaming and shouting at him, and hurled abuses and said: "tumhari himmat kaise hui...ek MP ko rokne ki....tumhari aukat kya hai?"
He also alleged that despite several “polite" attempts to ask her to leave, the MP rushed towards him “with the intent to push him away".
"She also hurled abuses upon the complainant, the contents of which are reproduced as under: "Main tujhe dekh lungi ******...main tujhe aese jhoothe case mein fasaungi ki tujhe zindagi bhar jail mei sada dungi ...." he added.
It is also alleged that Maliwal threatened police officials there
AAP leader Atishi has alleged that the BJP sent Swati to Kejriwal's residence as a trap
I am not going into the question whether Maliwal spoke the truth that she was assaulted by Bibhav Kumar or not. That will be seen by the court if the matter goes to trial.
My point, however, is simply this : if it is true that Swati Maliwal barged illegally into Kejriwal's house without his permission, is this the civilised behaviour expected of a lady, or the misbehaviour of a furious harridan, termagant, virago, dragon lady, or battle-ax, who wants to give a public dramatic performance to please her political superiors ?
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court. These are his personal views.)
