New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday called top Delhi Police officers the “agents” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the state assembly adopted a resolution to set up a panel to probe the “police inaction” in cases of crime against women.
Kejriwal also slammed Modi, calling him a “speed-breaker” in the progress of the Delhi government and asked him to shed the “obstructionist” approach.
“The one-day special session of the assembly wouldn’t have been called if Delhi was safe for women,” Kejriwal said in the assembly.
The resolution, passed amid the walkout by three BJP legislators, paves the way for a three-member commission of inquiry that will receive unheeded complaints regarding crimes such as violence, sexual harassment, stalking, voyeurism committed against women since February 2013.
The move comes in the wake of the brutal murder of a 19-year-old girl, Meenakshi, in broad daylight in Anand Parbat area of the city. The AAP government accused Delhi Police of “inaction” in the case.
It is set to increase the acrimony between the Delhi Police and the AAP government.
“In Delhi Police, officials in the lower rung are very brave and are doing very good work. Those who are sitting above have become the agents of Bharatiya Janata Party and Narendra Modi,” Kejriwal said, obliquely referring to Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi.
He asked Modi to either make Delhi safer in six months or hand over the reins of Delhi Police to the AAP government.
“I want to politely tell Narendra Modi ji, either make Delhi safe for women in six month or give Delhi Police to us. We will make Delhi the safest place in the country,” the chief minister said.
The terms of references of the panel, to be headed by a retired judge, will also include suggesting necessary amendments to the relevant laws.
It will also recommend whether any case of negligence or collusion is made out prima facie in the cases examined.
One of the terms of references suggested by Kejriwal in the assembly included recommendation of welfare measures for improving the working conditions of the foot soldiers in the law enforcing agencies.