NCW condemns Somnath Bharti statement on Delhi Women`s Commission

New Delhi: The National Commission for Women (NCW) Saturday condemned Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti`s statement that the Delhi Women`s Commission`s move against him was politically motivated. Condemning the minister`s statement, NCW member Nirmala Samant Prabhawalkar said: "It is his political fight, he cannot drag the commission (into this) for political motives." 

The member added that it was inappropriate for the Delhi law minister to challenge a constitutionally appointed body. Bharti, who courted controversy over his action against an alleged sex-and-drugs ring in south Delhi, Saturday said that the DCW`s move against him was "politically motivated". Meanwhile, DCW chief Barkha Singh Saturday said there was no politics involved in the move against Bharti. "It is a routine probe," she said, adding: "The kind of blame he is putting on the women`s commission shows that he knows he is guilty." The Delhi law minister had sent a lawyer to represent him before the Delhi Women`s Commission, which had issued summons to him on complaints from five Ugandan women of harassment at the hands of a mob led by the minister. The complaints concerned the midnight raid Jan 15 led by Bharti in connection with complaints of a drug-and-prostitution racket in Khirki Extension of south Delhi. The minister was summoned Friday. The Delhi Commission of Women refused to allow his lawyer to represent Bharti, saying the commission`s rules did not allow this.