Reacting to the demand to remove her from her current post, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Barkha Shukla Singh on Thursday said that the Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti should know that there is a procedure for conducting raids and that he could not take the law in his hands, adding that every Ugandan woman is not a smuggler or a prostitute.
"Not every Ugandan woman is a prostitute or a smuggler, and if a woman comes to me with a problem, I will do my best to address it, and that is exactly what I did. I did not do anything that is wrong according to the law," said Singh.
"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has newly entered politics and that is why they did not know the procedure to conduct a raid. The Law Minister cannot directly raid a place at midnight. He could have sent someone or followed a proper procedure. He cannot take law in his hands," she said.
She further said that the demand for her resignation had been made only because she went against Somnath Bharti.
"I was accused of this only because I went against Delhi Law Minster Somnath Bharti. I have only tried to protect the dignity of the Ugandan women who came to me with their issue. They told me that there were lakhs of Indians living in their country too but nobody there had a problem with that," said Singh.
"Nobody is born with a chair so, I do not have any issues with giving up the post, but the reason for asking it was wrong," she said.
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"They are accusing me of taking action against Bharti with political motives in mind but, they should explain how this is related to politics anyway. I was doing only what I thought was my duty and what was right," she added.
"I was and I still am for the resignation of Somnath Bharti," she said.
Singh had met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung who said that he would look into the matter following the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) demand to remove her from her current post today.
She also added that the Delhi Commission for Women Act 1994 does not mention that a political person cannot become chairperson or a member of any such organization.
"I met the L-G today, and told him about the work we have done. He said he would look into this matter. It is nowhere written in the Act that a political person cannot become chairperson or member of any organization. We are following the act," she told media after her meeting with the Lieutenant Governor.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Barkha Shukla Singh, who belongs to the Congress Party, would not be able to perform her duties in an unbiased way.
"Barkha Singh belongs to the Congress, and everyone knows it. She even contested elections as a Congress candidate. And, if she is the chairperson of Delhi Women Commission, she is certainly not doing an unbiased job. She is doing politics there. We want someone who is unbiased," he told media here today.
"And Maitreyi Pushpa is a very well known literary person. If she becomes a part of the DCW, the value of the institution will be higher," he added.
Barkha Singh on Wednesday accused the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of removing her from the post after she had acted against state Law Minister Somnath Bharti for conducting a midnight raid at the house of a Ugandan national.
"Women came to me with their complaints, then what will I do as DCW chief? If he (Somnath Bharti) is Aam Aadmi (common man) he should have come. If they are removing me because of this, then it is wrong," she said.
Earlier on January 24, Somnath Bharti's lawyer Rishikesh Kumar had a spat with Barkha Singh after she had refused to allow him to represent Bharti in the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Bharti was seen flying kites during a kite flying festival organized by the Tourism Ministry.
Bharti and his supporters have been accused of illegally detaining Ugandan women and forcing them to undergo medical tests.
Bharti, however, has alleged that a sex trade and drug-peddling racket was flourishing in the locality with the help of foreign nationals.
