AAP women's wing meets LG, demands arrest of godman Dixit

NEW DELHI: Women members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to demand the immediate arrest of self-styled 'godman and spiritual leader' Virender Dev Dixit, whose ashrams reportedly kept minor girls confined.

The delegation included AAP women's wing president Richa Pandey Mishra and Mangol Puri MLA Rakhi Birla.

Last Thursday, a team comprising Delhi Commission for Women members and Delhi Police personnel raided Dixit's Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya in Rohini, where women and girls were found to have been confined like "animals in a cage".

Pandey alleged that Dixit had been running the ashram with the connivance of police.

"Girls were illegally confined and exploited in the name of spirituality. All these things were happening under the nose of police," she said.

The AAP leader said their delegation met Baijal and urged him to direct Delhi Police to arrest Dixit and rescue women and girls confined in such places in other parts of the national Capital.

DCW, along with a police contingent, raided two of Dixit's centres in Rohini and Dwarka, and rescued over 40 girls who were allegedly confined there.

The matter had come to light after a PIL was filed the NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment in the Delhi High Court, stating that several girls and women were allegedly being illegally confined there.

Subsequently, the high court had set up a committee, comprising lawyers and DCW chief Swati Maliwal, to inspect the premises of the institute and had also directed the CBI to probe the matter.

The AAP leaders had earlier slammed Delhi police regarding the inaction in the case.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that children and women in the Capital were not safe in the presence of Delhi Police, as illegal institutions like Adhyatmik Viswavidyalaya are still running, which shows that police is not active.