The reason for the sacking of Delhi’s Women and Child Development Minister Sandeep Kumar could not be more ironic.
The 34-year-old legislator, who once declared at a public meet that he “touched his wife’s feet every morning for the sacrifices she had made for him”, was dismissed from the position after he was allegedly seen in a compromising position with a woman in a sex tape.
A lawyer by profession, Sandeep Kumar, won by one of the biggest margins -- 64,439 votes -- in the Delhi elections last year by defeating three-time MLA from Sultanpur Majra, Jai Kishan. He was also the AAP government’s SC face in the Cabinet.
Known to have fought cases of the poor “for free”, Mr. Kumar was introduced to Arvind Kejriwal during the India Against Corruption movement in 2011.
On March 8, 2015, International Women’s Day, Mr. Kumar, while speaking on women empowerment at Delhi Secretariat’s auditorium, thanked his wife Ritu Verma and said: “ Main roz subah inke pair chhoota hoon (I touch her feet every morning).”
Mr. Kumar is not new to controversies.
In March this year, he got into a heated argument with a school principal from his constituency during the inauguration of the school building over displaying a plaque that bore the name of the Minister’s wife.
The Principal complained to Mr. Kejriwal and according to sources, Mr. Kumar was pulled up by the Chief Minister.
In May, Mr. Kumar during an inspection at an ‘After-Care Home’, meant for girls above the age of 18, asked the warden to seize the mobile phones of the inmates saying they “did not need them and they might land into trouble for using a cellphone”.
Then in July, Mr. Kumar was slammed by the Chief Minister on Twitter for initiating “anti-begging” drive in Delhi. “Most inhuman n futile exercise that social welfare dept cud think of. Am directing them to stop it immediately [sic],” Mr. Kejriwal had tweeted.
