The Arvind Kejriwal government on Friday slapped a show cause notice on Delhi Commission for Women chief Barkha Singh, asking why she should not be removed from the post for allegedly abusing power in dealing with a complaint against ruling Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas.
The government has asked Singh, a former Congress members of Legislative Assembly who is due to retire as DCW chief in July, to file her reply to the show cause notice within three days which it said was issued following complaints against her by a member of the panel.
Complaints have been received from Juhi Khan, member of DCW, "Bringing to the notice of the government the irregular activities being carried out by you (Singh) in the capacity of Chairperson of DCW while dealing with a complaint filed by someone against Kumar Vishwas," the showcause notice said.
Earlier this month, the DCW chief had issued summons to Vishwas after an AAP volunteer accused him of not rebutting ‘rumours’ about an illicit liaison with her and ruining her reputation. DCW member Khan had protested the summons to Vishwas and accused Singh of trying to defame the AAP leader.
"The notice issued by the commission to Vishwas does not in any way relate to any of the matters it can deal and prima facie the manner in which the notice has been issued is outside the scope of the Commission of which you are the chairperson,” the government said in the notice.
"Further, the persons connected to the alleged incident are residents of state of Uttar Pradesh and the place of alleged incident is also in UP, hence prima facie, your notice is beyond the jurisdiction of the commission," it said.
It said that Singh, on May 5, held a press conference on the issue though there is no provision in the 'Complaint Handling Policy' of the commission to hold public press conference in any matter when such case is pending before the DCW for decision.
"At this press conference, you (Singh) had not only prevented another member of the commission from placing her views but also you in person had maligned the member of commission in full public view only because she had a different viewpoint and further you charged her of being member of AAP without any such facts being placed before you," the notice said.
Meanwhile, Delhi High Court on Friday refused to give any interim relief to senior AAP leader Kumar Vishwas about complaints on alleged "rumours" about their illicit liaison, saying his plea challenging the Delhi women's commission summons had some "blatant" faults.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher said one "defect" in the plea was that the volunteer should have been made a party in the petition as it was on her complaint that the summonses were issued.
The other "fault" pointed out by the court was that Delhi government need not be impleaded, as the plea has not sought removal of any member of the Delhi Commission for Women.
The court refused to consider the repeated pleas of Vishwas' counsel Somnath Bharti for an interim stay on the summons, saying that grant of any relief at this stage, without the presence of the complainant, would be "like putting the cart before the horse".
It refused to hear the matter on May 18, as sought by Bharti and listed it for hearing on May 22, saying "there was no tearing hurry". The court also told Bharti that he ought not have disclosed the name of the complainant during the hearing.
It also refused to consider the lawyer's argument that media would exploit the matter, saying "keep that aspect outside the court".
On the issue of making the complainant a party, Bharti argued that his client was challenging the conduct of DCW and had nothing against the woman. He contended that since no allegations were made against Vishwas in the complaint, how summons could be issued against him.
Questioning the authority of DCW to issue such summons claiming it had no jurisdiction to deal with the issue raised by the complainant, the petitioner has also sought that the woman be restrained from making any public statement.
Vishwas has also claimed that DCW chairperson Barkha Shukla Singh was working with some "political vendetta".
The commission had first asked Vishwas, his wife and two others to appear before it on May 4 and later fresh summons were issued for May 6 after they failed to appear.
Acting on the woman's complaint, the commission had said that the volunteer had worked for the party for a year in Amethi and now it was a matter of her respect and honour. So Kumar Vishwas should turn up and give his clarification.
In an interview to various news channels, the woman had alleged that Vishwas threatened her to stay quiet or else she would be killed like AAP leader Santosh Koli.
Koli, who was to contest Delhi assembly polls, was killed in a road accident in 2013.
The woman had said she had campaigned alongside Vishwas, who was pitted against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
She had received a message on social media, first on Facebook and later on WhatsApp, showing her picture as the female volunteer Vishwas was accused of having illicit relationship with.
Demanding that Vishwas' wife should come forward and give an explanation, the woman had said that she filed a complaint at Nand Nagri Police Station in Delhi in this regard on March 29. However, the police did not pay heed to her complaint.
