Day after NCW summons, Ashutosh brazens it out

NEW DELHI: AAP leader Ashutosh, summoned by the national women’s panel for defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar in a blog post, said on Tuesday there should

NEW DELHI: AAP leader Ashutosh, summoned by the national women’s panel for defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar in a blog post, said on Tuesday there should be a debate on whether he has the right to express himself as “mandated by the Babasheb’s Constitution”.

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The National Commission for Women summoned the Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson for his controversial blog post in which he defended Kumar over an “objectionable” CD, saying it was a “consensual” act and that he had done no wrong.

“Who has given right to NCW to muzzle my voice ?? Is there emergency in the country that I need to seek permission from govt and NCW ?? (sic)” Ashutosh said in a series of tweets.

While the AAP leadership had distanced themselves from his blog, party leader Dilip Pandey defended Ashutosh on the NCW notice, saying the central body was a constitutional body and “it should not take decisions that are politically motivated”.

“The NCW should be focussing more on helping women. While the NCW handles three-four cases in a year, the Delhi Commission for Women has dealt with around 400 cases. They have highlighted crimes against women and helped acid-attack victims,” Pandey added.

Ashutosh also said that registering police cases against him was an infringement on his fundamental right to freedom of expression according to the Constitution.

“Registration of police cases and NCW can’t scare me !! I am born in free India, I am a proud indian !! Constitution is my religion !! (sic).”

Ashutosh has been asked to forward an explanation on “issuing such statements that compromise the status and the dignity of women” and appear before the panel on September 8.

On Monday, the AAP leader got into a war of words with NCW chair person Lalitha Kumaramangalam after he was summoned by the women’s body. He accused Kumaramangalam of being a member of the ruling BJP national executive as well as the national secretary.

“If I get notice from NCW, I will react (sic),” Ashutosh tweeted.

In his blog on NDTV website, Ashutosh had written, “This video encompasses pictures of a man and woman indulging in a sexual act. The video clearly establishes that both individuals knew each other and consented to sex in a private space away from the public glare. The question then is that if two consenting adults are physically involved with each other, is it a crime?”

Kumar was arrested on Saturday night after a woman, who was seen in the video with him in a “compromising position”, complained that she had been drugged and raped a year ago.