With the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) telling the High Court on Wednesday that they had closed the case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas, the party alleged that though the case was dropped, Mr. Vishwas was being summoned due to ‘political vendetta’ and the women’s commission was going beyond its jurisdiction.
Commission chairperson Barkha Singh through a lawyer had told Justice V.P. Vaish that DCW proceedings against Vishwas were dropped on June 23 and the panel will now refer the matter to the Delhi Police.
The DCW counsel further said that as the probe against Vishwas was closed on June 23, the present petition becomes ‘infructuous’.
The court, which was hearing a plea by Mr. Vishwas seeking stay on the summons issued to him by DCW, however, directed the Chairperson’s counsel to file a “detailed report within two weeks with regard to the oral submissions made by the advocate”.
The Chairperson’s response came in pursuance to the notice issued by the high court to her on May 22, as well as the DCW and the woman complainant.
Meanwhile, the court issued fresh notice to the complainant after it was informed that notice was not served upon her as she was not residing at the given address.
“Delhi High Court Registry will serve the summons to the complainant by hand, at the new address provided,” the court said and listed the matter for August 7.
The counsel explained since the DCW has limited powers it wants to refer the complaints against Mr. Vishwas to the police. “AAP is unnecessarily making the issue political. The woman came to us and asked for help. As the chairperson of DCW, I have to take up the case,” said Ms. Singh.
Mr. Vishwas had challenged and sought suspension of summons issued to him by the commission on the complaint of an AAP volunteer who alleged that her life was ruined as he had refused to deny ‘rumours’ about their alleged affair.
Once DCW admitted it closed the case, Mr. Vishwas’s lawyer and party MLA Somnath Bharti urged the court to pass strictures against Ms. Singh and to restrain her from holding a press conference on the issue. The court indicated it wanted to dispose of the case since the proceedings were dropped against Mr. Vishwas but Mr. Bharti maintained the DCW Chairperson misused her office for political purposes and urged the court that at least a word of caution should be issued to the DCW.
Earlier, the DCW told the court that after the woman approached the Delhi police and mediation cell on the issue, the Commission closed the proceedings. The High Court has now posted the matter for August 7. Seeking suspension of the summons, Mr. Vishwas told the court that he was “wrongly summoned” and that the decision was beyond the DCW’s jurisdiction.
The woman claimed to have participated in the campaigning for Kumar Vishwas in Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 general elections. She went public about the "rumours" of their alleged affair and asked Mr. Vishwas to deny these. She later approached the DCW which summoned Mr. Vishwas.
(with inputs from PTI)
