DCW drama: Member quits over Vishwas notice
High voltage drama unfolded at the Delhi Commission of Women on Tuesday over issuing summons to the AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and his wife, with one of the members revolting against the commission’s chief and announcing her exit from the panel.
DCW member Juhi Khan stormed out of a joint press interaction with DCW chief Barkha Singh, calling the decision to issue summons to Mr Vishwas and his wife “politically motivated” and said she was resigning from the panel in protest.
The women’s panel had summoned Mr Vishwas and his wife on Monday asking them to appear before it by 3 pm on Tuesday, but the AAP leader did not depose before the panel and said that “he had not received any communication from it.” Mr Vishwas and his wife were issued summons on the basis of a complaint by an AAP volunteer that he did not dispel rumours of an alleged illicit affair with her.
As Ms Singh told the media that fresh summons have been issued to Mr Vishwas, asking him to appear before the commission by 12 noon on Wednesday, Ms Khan, who was sitting next to the panel chief, protested the decision and said the AAP leader is being targeted for “political gains.” Ms Singh is a former Congress MLA and had a tussle with the AAP government during its first stint over then minister Somnath Bharti’s alleged involvement in a midnight crackdown at Khirki village.
“It is a politically- motivated conspiracy. I am resigning in protest,” Ms Khan said while storming out of the joint media interaction with the panel chief.
The DCW chief, on the other hand, alleged that Ms Khan has joined the AAP recently and that was the reason why she had opposed the move. “She is a member of the AAP. She was sent by the party to create chaos in our press conference,” Ms Singh alleged.
“Ms Khan is an AAP member. She has been a member of the commission for the last three years. She was appointed a member of the DCW by the Congress government. Few months back, she told me that she has joined AAP,” Ms Singh added.
“We had not invited her to the press conference. Suddenly she started speaking in support of Mr Vishwas. This is very unfortunate that being a woman she was not supporting another woman’s cause,” Ms Singh said.
Defending the issuance of summons to Mr Vishwas, the DCW chief said, “There are things which are going against him ( Mr Vishwas). We are further sending the documents to the police.”