Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stoked a controversy on Tuesday after he failed to recall one his own party activists, Soni Mishra who had committed suicide after facing sexual harassment from one of the AAP leaders.
Speaking at the ‘Shikhar Sammelan’ organised by ABP News, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attempted to downplay the suicide of one of the AAP workers, Soni Mishra who had ended her life in 2016 after allegedly facing sexual harassment from one of the party leaders Ramesh Bharadwaj.
As journalist Shobhna Yadav questioned Kejriwal on the issue of women safety in Delhi, the death of Soni Mirza featured in her interview. Journalist Yadav sought a response from Kejriwal regarding the controversy surrounding the death of Soni Mishra.
However, Kejriwal insensitively asked ‘Who was Soni Mishra?’ and behaved as such that he had never come across a person named Soni Mishra.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ0L39T-UjA?start=1493]
Further, Yadav aided Kejriwal to recollect from the past regarding how he had asked Soni Mishra to compromise with the AAP leader who had sexually harassed her. However, Kejriwal claimed that people are making false allegations against him and insensitively asked who was Soni Mishra.
It is important to note that Soni Mishra had alleged that Arvind Kejriwal had asked her to strike a ‘compromise’ deal with the accused after she had complained to Delhi CM regarding sexual harassment by the AAP leader Bharadwaj.
Who was Soni Mishra?
Soni Mishra was a worker of the Aam Aadmi Party, who had accused fellow party worker Ramesh Bhardwaj of sexual harassment. Soni had filed a molestation complaint against party colleague Ramesh Bhardwaj who was arrested in June 2016.
Shockingly, on July 19, 2016, allegedly depressed by no-action being taken by either the party or the police, Soni Mishra – the young political activist of the AAP consumed poison and ended her life.
Later, the Delhi Police had also arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sharad Chauhan for his involvement in AAP worker Soni Mishra’s suicide case.
Prior to her death, Soni Mishra had revealed that she had in fact approached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to seek action against AAP leader Ramesh Bharadwaj. According to her, however, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had not only failed to act against his party leader but also demanded her to strike a ‘compromise’ with AAP leader who had allegedly attempted to sexually exploit her.
It is rather shocking that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who came to power by attacking the Congress party over failure to provide security to women in Delhi, has now chosen to make insensitive remarks claiming that he did not know any women by the name Soni Mishra who had to end her life because of the alleged sexual harassment perpetrated by one of his own party leaders.
