‘What If It Were Acid?’ Arvind Kejriwal Ink Thrower Gets Tough Sentence

NEW DELHI:  Bhavna Arora, the woman who threw ink at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this week, will spend 14 days in jail in judicial custody, a judge ruled today.

The Delhi Police said that the actions of Ms Arora, 26, amount to an “attack on democracy” and that a recent practice of politicians being targeted by shoe and ink throwers must be checked.

“It’s time to teach a lesson to those who opt such a path to garner publicity,” the police said, arguing that acid could have been used by Ms Arora, and therefore, she deserves a strict penalty.

Ms Arora, who claims affiliation to a rebel faction of Mr Kejriwal’s party in Punjab, sprayed the ink on Sunday when Mr Kejriwal held a “thanksgiving event” to appreciate Delhi commuters’ cooperation in a scheme that banned the use of private cars on alternate days. The 14-day traffic experiment was aimed at combatting Delhi’s toxic smog.

Ms Arora’s lawyer said she has “no previous record for crime” but his arguments were not accepted.

Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, which shares an epic hostility with both the Centre and Delhi Police chief BS Bassi has described the ink attack as “a BJP conspiracy” and accused Mr Bassi of “leaking details” of Mr Kejriwal’s security. It also denied reports that Mr Kejriwal’s team had asked a cop who was standing next to him on stage to step down before the Chief Minister began his speech.

Among AAP’s elected representatives in Delhi is Jarnail Singh, who threw a shoe in 2009 at former union minister  P Chidambaram, who did not press charges against him.  Asked why the party hadn’t intervened to let Ms Arora off the hook, Saurabh Bharadwaj of AAP said “Jarnail Sigh was not a party member when he threw the shoe.” He also said the decision to jail Ms Arora was taken by a court and the AAP cannot intervene.