Derecognise AAP in wake of its activist's suicide: BJP

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded the Election Commission's intervention to derecognise the Aam Aadmi Party after the suicide by an AAP woman worker who had claimed sexual harassment by a party colleague. AAP worker Soni committed suicide after the party member she accused of sexually harassing her was released on bail. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, BJP member Meenakshi Lekhi said the case of alleged outraging of modesty of the AAP worker should now be treated as one pertaining to abetment to suicide. "A case of abetment to suicide should be made out against accused AAP activists, the MLA concerned and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," Lekhi told the house. "This was not merely a case of sexual harassment but an example of how a structure is being created in a political party where women are being exploited," she said. Demanding the AAP's derecognition, she said the Election Commission should look into the matter. Another BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri attacked the AAP, saying the incident had exposed the anti-women character of the party. Soni, who resided in outer Delhi's Narela area with her two daughters and other family members, had filed a police complaint on June 2 about party colleague Ramesh Wadhwa for harassing her. The case was registered under Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, police said.