Somnath Bharti skips Delhi Commission of Women appearance amid high drama, attends kite fest

New Delhi: High drama was witnessed at the Delhi Commission of Women as controversial Law Minister Somnath Bharti on Friday failed to appear before it in the case relating to the midnight raid against an alleged drug and prostitution ring and instead attended a kite flying festival.

Bharti's lawyers and the Commission Chief Barkha Singh, a former Congress MLA, had a public confrontation after she refused to allow them to present the minister's response. In a statement, Aam Aadmi Party said it 'strongly disapproved of the politicisation of the office of Delhi Commission for Women by its chairperson'.

Claiming that a lawyer had misbehaved with her, Singh said she has written to the Lt Governor recommending filing of an FIR against Bharti for allegedly misbehaving with a number of African women.

DCW had summoned Bharti following allegations that the Delhi minister led a group of AAP workers who misbehaved with a number of African women on the pretext of a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution ring in South Delhi last week.

The Law Minister was asked to depose before the commission this afternoon to explain the charges against him but he sent his lawyers, who said he was absent due to 'some urgencies'.

"There is no provision by which we can allow representatives or lawyers. Bharti's lawyer who had come here today mishaved with us. The lawyer misbehaved with me," Singh said. The Commission had called two Ugandan women involved in the case to the Commission.

One of Bharti's lawyers Rishikesh Kumar said Singh did not allow them to put across his point on the issue.

"I have been asked by Somnath Bharti to represent him in today's proceeding. I came here at 3 PM and as I entered inside I saw many camerapersons were already present there. So I said that it's already 3 o'clock and we have been sent by Bharti to represent him," he said.

"We were told lawyers cannot represent. I said I have got the instructions. I have got the authorisation and can you please let me speak? Then she said no, you are a lawyer. But I kept saying that we have a humble submission. I told her that because of some urgencies Bharti might not be able to attend today's hearing," Kumar said.

The AAP had on Thursday decided to back Bharti and to await the findings of a judicial inquiry before any action can be taken against him.

However, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal disapproved of the language used by Bharti against senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and noted lawyer Harish Salve and asked him not to use foul language in public discourse.

Kumar said Bharti will file a written reply as the minister had received four separate compliants by four different women.

"We are going through the letters of complaints and will soon file a written reply because we have got the notice and we don't want to evade the due process of law and duly authorised representative can speak on behalf of the law minister," he said.

The DCW said five Ugandan women have recorded their complaints with it. The DCW chief said three of the Ugandan women have claimed that unknown persons had forcibly entered their house in the middle of the night asking for their passports and started searching their suitcases.

"Two of the Ugandan women have stated that they were stopped while returning from work and forced to give urine samples while sitting in a taxi," Singh said.

Bharti on Friday attended a kite flying event organised by Delhi Tourism.

In its statement, AAP said Bharti, who also holds the tourism portfolio, could not go to DCW as he was to attend an official engagment of his tourism department followed by a function organised by the Lt Governor.

"Both the programmes had been scheduled much in advance and therefore, Bharti through his lawyers wanted to inform the DCW that he will appear before the commission at a later date. This was done by Mr Bharti despite the fact that the summons by the DCW were sent to him on wrong addresses, but showing full respect for the commission he decided to be represented before it," the AAP said.

"The attempts by the DCW chairperson, who is a former MLA of the Congress party, to create a controversy on the issue clearly shows her political intentions," it said.

AAP govt likely to replace Delhi Commission for Women chief: Sources

The AAP government is likely to replace Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Barkha Singh, who has been accused by party members of having 'politicised' the role of her office while dealing with the midnight raid episode allegedly involving Law Minister Somnath Bharti.

Sources said that in keeping with the tradition, Singh, a former Congress MLA, should have resigned after her party was ousted from power in the recent Assembly elections. They added that she is likely to be replaced soon.

Following a party directive, all Congress members had relinquished their positions on the various Delhi government boards and commissions following the electoral drubbing.

Next: Bharti's midnight raid based on some evidence: AAP

Bharti's midnight raid based on some evidence: AAP

New Delhi: Amid demands for removal of Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti for the midnight raid episode, Aam Aadmi Party on Friday came in his defence, saying he had sought action against the alleged drug and prostitution racket on the basis of 'some evidence'.

But, senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said it was a "mistake" on the part of his party not to have "cobbled" together the evidence supporting Bharti's action and put it in public domain to dispel the impression that he had acted without any basis.

"I saw the evidence myself.... I admit that the mistake was that we should have cobbled together all the evidence and put it in public domain and let the public view it. I think we allowed the mistaken impression to persist for 4-5 days, which was an error," he told Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

Asked if Bharti would have been exonerated had the evidence been put out, Yadav said, "Not exonerated. Prima facie actually there is no evidence for all the things that are being put out (against Bharti)."

Asked if party was adopting double standards on issues relating to Bharti's removal from office and suspension of police personnel, he said an independent judicial inquiry has been ordered by the Lt Governor into the allegations of racism.

There have been demands for the sacking of Bharti after a Ugandan woman identified him as the one who led a group of AAP workers in attacking their house and misbehaving with them on the pretext of a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution ring in South Delhi last week.

On why Bharti should not be removed when African women have given statements before a magistrate against him, Yadav said, "The concerns of women should be taken care of.... In this instance, there is one version given by the African women while there is another version given by the locals.

"Fortunately in this case, there were four cameras watching all the evidence." On the availability of CCTV cameras showing evidence against Bharti, he said, "I want to see the footage that shows him indulging in racism or abusing those women."

Asked if the last week was a bad one for his party in the wake of the dharna staged by it near the Raisina Hills, Yadav said, "It has been difficult because when in Government, you have to manage multiple perceptions, the perception of ordinary people, the perception of discerning people and the perception of people watching from a distance."

To a question whether his party's standing has fallen after the protests which 'paralysed' the city, the AAP leader said, "On that I am not sure... Most channels throughout the dharna carried out sms polls, which I don't credit much, but my impression is that there was no poll which showed a support of less than 70 per cent in terms of public support for the dharna."

He claimed that the "basic cause of the dharna was that the Delhi Police should be put under the Delhi government" and it was not a "climb down" when the party ended its protests after two policemen were sent on leave despite their demand for suspension of five cops.

Yadav also described an "absurdity" the control of Delhi Police being with the Central government and not with the state administration.

Yadav was on the defensive when asked about Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's threat to 'disrupt' the Republic Day celebrations by flooding Rajpath with lakhs of people.

He said the Delhi Chief minister had questioned the way the Republic Day was celebrated and felt that it was a bit outdated to have a "Soviet-style" parade.