'Kejriwal not allowed face-to-face meeting with wife'

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Arvind Kejriwal's wife was not allowed to meet the chief minister face-to-face but through a 'jangla'.

'Kejriwal not allowed face-to-face meeting with wife'

AAM Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh alleged on Saturday that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, currently lodged in jail, was denied an in-person meeting with his wife Sunita.

Singh accused authorities of "inhuman" behaviour and said that "even the dreaded criminals are allowed to meet in the barrack".

"When the wife of Arvind Kejriwal applied to meet him, she was told that you cannot meet him face-to-face but through a jangla [window]. Why such inhuman behaviour...," Singh said during a press conference on Saturday.

The 'mulakat jangla' is an iron mesh that separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on different sides of the mesh.

Singh went on to say, "In the same Tihar jail, many meetings take place…I am saying with full responsibility that even the dreaded criminals are allowed to meet in the barrack...but a three-time chief minister of Delhi is allowed to meet his wife through a window, with a glass in between."

The AAP leader claimed that this "inhuman act" was done “just to humiliate and discourage" the chief minister. "This is happening at the behest of the BJP-led Central government," Singh said.

There has been no immediate reaction from the Tihar administration yet.

Kejriwal is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on March 21. He was first sent to the ED's custody and later to judicial custody till April 15.

On Friday, the jail authorities scheduled Kejriwal’s meeting with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann for April 15, saying that he can meet the AAP convener, but as a normal visitor in the 'mulakat jangla'.