Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia with the victim’s parents at her residence in Anand Parbat. (Source: Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia with the victim’s parents at her residence in Anand Parbat. (Source: Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached Anand Parbat, the central Delhi locality where a 19-year-old girl was brutally stabbed to death two days earlier, at around 5 pm on Saturday, the victim’s family members were at the local police station to stage a protest.

Meenakshi was stabbed 35 times, allegedly by two brothers living in her neighbourhood, who have since been arrested. Her family has claimed that the duo had repeatedly harassed her and threatened her with an acid attack. The family had written a letter, complaining against the accused, to the police in 2013.

Several residents participated in the protest at the police station and raised slogans against the Delhi Police.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal, along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, waited at the victim’s residence till her family returned about half an hour later.

During his interaction with the grieving family, the chief minister assured them that the Delhi government would pay Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia. He also told them the AAP government was “helpless” as it did not have any control over the Delhi police.

“Hum kya karein, hum toh majboor hain. Aap toh jaante hai Delhi police hamare control mein nahi hai (What can we do, we are helpless. You know that the Delhi Police is not under our control),” Kejriwal said.

Meenakshi’s father Raj Kumar and mother Usha demanded the arrest of Shashi Bala, the mother of the arrested accused, Sunny and Illu.

Unable to hold back her tears, Usha told the CM, “These people mercilessly killed my daughter. If the police had acted on time, she would have been saved.”

While addressing mediapersons later, Kejriwal said the AAP government could not be held accountable, as the Delhi police is not answerable to it. “At least the local police stations should be under our control,” he said.

Kejriwal also said that the government has sought a detailed report on the case from Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi within the next 48 hours.

Delhi’s Women and Child Development Minister Sandeep Kumar, Patel Nagar MLA Hazari Lal Chauhan and Delhi Commission for Women chairperson-designate Swati Maliwal also met Meenakshi’s family members and senior police officials on Saturday.

Chauhan faced the public’s ire for not visiting the victim’s family sooner. “Their anger is just, but as soon as we got to know about the incident, we rushed to meet the family. We learnt that their demands were not met and asked the police to look into the matter,” he said.

Maliwal said that the police have assured her that investigation in the case is going on and they will take necessary action. Later, the sub-divisional magistrate of Rampura came to the victim’s residence and recorded the statements of her parents.

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