New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): A day after the alleged slapping incident involving Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, the victim on Monday demanded Parvesh Verma’s resignation, saying he is “not worthy” of holding the post and that an FIR should be registered against him.
Speaking to IANS, the victim, Sahib Singh said, “Our demand is that the Deputy Chief Minister should resign; he is not worthy of being a minister. An FIR should at least be registered against him. If I or anyone else had done such a thing, you know how severe the action would have been. If a Deputy Chief Minister can act like this, then the youths of India are not safe. If any young person or individual raises a question, their life could be put at risk.”
Singh claimed that the entire incident was captured on video and said the footage would establish what happened.
“You can check my live video stream. I was streaming live on Jarnail Singh’s Instagram page at that moment. When I picked up a piece of the broken road, pointed the camera and walked towards them, he snatched my phone. I have the full recording,” Singh said.
He added that he was willing to accept any allegations against him if there was evidence that he had used abusive or disrespectful language.
“If there is even 1 per cent evidence that I used any abusive language or showed disrespect, I am ready to accept all allegations and apologise to them. But we didn’t say anything inappropriate,” Singh said.
According to Singh, he had accompanied an AAP MLA to inspect the quality of a road after receiving a call.
“We went for an inspection around 1 or 1.15 p.m. after receiving a call from Parvesh. I accompanied our MLA to inspect the road quality. We exposed the true condition of the road — it was thinner than a carpet, cracking and breaking apart,” he alleged.
Singh further alleged that exposing the condition of the road led to the confrontation and claimed that Deputy Chief Minister Verma pushed down his phone with one hand and slapped him across the face, before moving behind his police and security personnel.
Singh said political support had also come in following the incident.
“Yes, support is coming in. Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party have extended support, and Rahul Gandhi from Congress tweeted about this issue as well. Because this is a national issue. A sitting minister cannot just assault a young person openly on the street for asking a question,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, a video of the incident shows Verma pulling down the young man’s mobile phone with his left hand while the latter was recording him during the road inspection. He then appears to slap the man with his right hand.
A scuffle follows, with a security guard stepping between the two as a small crowd gathers around them.
Defending his actions, Deputy Chief Minister Verma claimed the young man had abused his family members and that he had reacted to the alleged abuse. However, the young man has denied the allegations.
The incident took place while Verma, who also holds the Public Works Department portfolio, was inspecting a road in Tilak Nagar in west Delhi.
