Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said that he was “happy” that BJP MLA Vijender Gupta’s wife was robbed since the BJP will now realise how bad the safety situation in Delhi is.
“When a woman steps out of her house, her chain getting snatched by people on a bike is a traumatic incident, especially for senior citizens and they would be afraid to leave their houses... I am happy that Vijender Gupta’s wife got robbed. I am happy about it. At least now they [BJP] know what is happening to common man. Else they don’t realise it,” said Mr. Bharadwaj, while addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters in Rouse Avenue.
“The condition is very bad in Delhi and Vijender Gupta and the BJP should understand this and do something about it.”
Responding to Mr. Bharadwaj’s statement, Mr. Gupta said, “Such statements just reiterate the fact that Aam Aadmi Party never was, is, or will be serious about the issue of women’s safety. All they care about is politicising incidents instead of actually doing something on the ground to improve women’s safety in the city.”
In Delhi, the city police reports to the Lt. Governor, who is appointed by the Central government. In the past also, AAP had attacked the Central government on law and order problems in the city.
‘Fake data’
AAP also alleged that Delhi Police was “shamelessly” “manipulating” statistics to show that crime has decreased in the city. However, the allegation was contested by the city police.
“The Delhi police keep putting out statistics to make its point about crime. But the fact is, it is the police who register the cases and if they want to suppress the number of crimes reported, they simply choose not to register cases or register under less serious sections to bring down the number of serious crimes reported. This manipulation is being done by the Delhi police shamelessly,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.
“How can the Police Commissioner do the business of fake statistics and make fool [of the people]?”
Cops’ contention
In a written statement, Delhi Police PRO, Madhur Verma, said: “The Delhi police have ensured maximum visibility on road through integrated picket checking, foot patrolling... These measures have yielded positive results in the form of downward trend in heinous crimes and crimes against women. These statistics are a part of computerised record and cannot be disputed.”