In the wake of gang rape of two minor girls in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday took on the Centre over policing and said he will not let Prime Minister Narendra Modi sleep “peacefully” if such incidents recur.
Maintaining that ‘jungle raj’ prevailed in the Capital, Kejriwal called for handing over law and order to his dispensation for one year.
“The prime minister must understand I am not (previous Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit. I will not remain silent. We will not allow the prime minister to sleep peacefully if women in Delhi do not get proper safety and the present trend of rapes continues, that is guaranteed,” Kejriwal told reporters after meeting Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
‘Jungle raj’ is prevailing in the capital and it was a matter of “deep concern”, Kejriwal said and appealed to the Centre to “stop being stubborn and hand over law and order control” to his dispensation for one year.
The chief minister said his government was exploring all the options to ensure safety of women.
“A cabinet meeting, to discuss the issue, has been convened tomorrow,” he said.
On his meeting with LG Jung, Kejriwal said he submitted figures relating to crime against women and cases of missing children.
“We met the LG along with last four year’s record on crime cases. Around 31,000 cases of crime against women were recorded. Out of these, chargesheets were filed in only 13,000 cases and in 18,000 cases there was no charge sheet.
“Only 146 people were punished overall, so you can see how safe our women are,” he said.
Kejriwal also ridiculed the ‘Himmat App’ launched by Delhi police and said that only 13 out of 4,000 cases were properly addressed that came in purview of this initiative.
He also said to have questioned Jung on “democratic control” over police during the meeting, which lasted around 45 minutes.
“There is absolutely no democratic control on Delhi police, which is very dangerous for a democratic country. I assure that we will change the whole Delhi as we have done in other areas under our control,” he said.
Kejriwal said that people of Delhi are “disappointed and very angry” over the incident and there was a sense of insecurity among them.
“Rapists know that they commit crime and get away with it,” he said.
“What women security is there if a child is picked up from Ramlila event (in public view)? The police response has become predictable. If any incident takes place, police says what we can do in this connection,” Kejriwal said.
Two children, including a two-and-half-year-old, were brutally raped in the capital, a week after the grisly sexual assault on a minor, triggering outrage and a political slugfest between rival parties.
Chief Minister Kejriwal had accused the police of being a complete failure in providing security to women.
