Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha members staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Friday morning over the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal by his aide Bibhav Kumar, demanding resignation from AAP chief over the incident.

The protesters were led by Mahila Morcha president Richa Pandey Mishra and the protesters, who were carrying bangles, said, “If the Chief Minister can’t respect women, he should rather give his resignation.”

Mishra said the Mahila Morcha wanted to hand over the bangles to Kejriwal for keeping mum over the incident with Maliwal that occurred at his official residence. “Kejriwal haye, haye” and “Nahi chalegi tanashahi” were the slogans hurled by the women standing near the house of Kejriwal.

Mishra stated, “After the indecent behavior with Maliwal in Chief Minister’s house Delhi’s women no longer feel safe because if a Rajya Sabha member is not safe inside the Chief Minister’s residence, how can Kejriwal guarantee the safety of women in their homes or on the streets.”

She emphasised that the incident with Maliwal is not a personal matter of Arvind Kejriwal but an issue of insult to the active woman MP of Delhi. “It is also the truth of the Kejriwal government because they have consistently remained silent on the insults being perpetrated against Delhi’s women by their allies for the past 10 years,” she said.

Media head of Delhi BJP Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “Kejriwal’s silence on the case of Swati Maliwal proves his agreement with the assault on her, and now he can hide his assistant Bibhav in Punjab.”

A protestor Priyal Bharadwaj said that what happened at the Chief Minister’s residence with Swati Maliwal is shocking.

“It is not just indecency but also physical assault, which is extremely humiliating for a woman who is a member of parliament.

She said that it is painful and shameful that despite Arvind Kejriwal being aware of all this, he is still silent,” Bharadwaj said.

The Delhi Police on Thursday registered an FIR in connection with Maliwal’s alleged assault, naming Kumar, the personal assistant of Kejriwal, as an accused.

The FIR was registered after Maliwal’s statement was recorded by a two-member team led by Additional Commissioner of Police P S Kushwaha. The team was at Maliwal’s residence in central Delhi for nearly four and a half hours on Thursday.

Kumar ignored the National Commission for Women’s (NCW) summon and did not appear before them on Friday, which had asked him to appear before it at 11 am.

A tweet by NCW read, “Officers of the NCW, along with the ACP of Civil Lines, New Delhi, attempted to serve a Notice of Hearing to Bibhav Kumar at his residence.

When the occupants of the house refused to accept the notice, the officers affixed it on the gate of his residence. The hearing is scheduled for 18th May at the NCW Office.”