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In more controversy for ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its MLA and former Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti was on Wednesday slapped with notices by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) after his wife filed a complaint levelling charges of domestic violence, mental torture, dowry and forgery which the lawmaker has rejected as “baseless”.
DCW chief Barkha Singh said the AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar had been asked to reply to the notices by June 26.
“Me and my children are subject to harassment and torture — mental, physical and oral — by my husband Somnath Bharti... There is a persistent threat from my husband and his supporters,” the MLA's wife Lipika Bharti said in the complaint.
A lawyer by profession, Bharti who was law minister during AAP's first stint of 49-day government, denied the allegations calling them “totally baseless”.
“... My wife says I should quit politics...I am deeply pained. I love my wife and my little children,” Bharti, who is in Kerala, said.
“According to her complaint, she works in a multinational company and married Bharti in 2010. Bharti had also demanded dowry. The woman's family had to bear all the marriage expenses and he had also asked for a car. She said Bharti had lied to her. Before marriage, Bharti had said that he owned an international law firm but later she realised that he did not. She has also complained of physical and mental torture. After making the complaint, she is scared,” the DCW chief said.
