New Delhi; Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta was attacked during a public grievance hearing at her residence in Civil Lines in the national capital on Wednesday morning.
The lone attacker allegedly posed as a complainant and handed over some documents before assaulting her, sources said. The identity of the person is not known.
Sources said that the incident occurred during the weekly ‘Jan Sunwai’ programme when a person in his mid-30s entered, handed over a paper to the Chief Minister, shouted, slapped her, pulled her hair, and abused her. Court-related documents were apparently found in the accused’s possession.
IANS has quoted Delhi Police sources as saying that a heavy object was hurled at the Chief Minister, causing her to fall to the ground.
An official confirmation and a statement by the Delhi Police were awaited. The person was taken into custody, and the Delhi Police have launched an inquiry.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office read, “Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was attacked today during a public grievance hearing.
The Delhi Police promptly took the accused into custody and are interrogating him.”
Additional forces were also deployed at the Chief Minister’s residence.
The BJP has claimed the chief minister may have suffered a head injury, though others said that she is unarmed.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva “strongly” condemned the “attack” on the Chief Minister during her weekly ‘Jan Sunwai’ programme, the Delhi BJP said in a message.
It also quoted party sources as saying that Rekha Gupta was “attacked” by a man aged around 35. He first gave the Chief Minister some papers during the public hearing and then allegedly attacked her, they said.
However, an eye-witness at the chief minister’s residence said the attacker was a woman.
The Congress also reacted to the attack on Gupta, with the party’s Delhi chief Devender Yadav calling the incident “very unfortunate,” but also attacked the city administration. Devender Yadav said how can a common woman be safe in Delhi if the chief minister is not.
“This is very unfortunate. CM leads the entire Delhi, and I think that the more such incidents are condemned, the less it is. But this incident also exposes women’s safety. If the CM of Delhi is not safe, how can a common man or common woman be safe,” he said.
