Amid AAP Ad Blitz, No Compensation Yet for Family of Murdered Girl

New Delhi:  She is the face of the Aam Aadmi Party government’s costly ads highlighting the need for better policing in Delhi. But the family of 19-year-old Meenakshi, who was stabbed to death on a road last month, says it has yet to receive Rs 5 lakh compensation promised by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The family was seen outside the Delhi assembly on Monday, the day the government had called a special session to discuss Meenakshi’s murder and the need for a commission to handle crimes against women.

The Delhi government said today that the money has been released from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the family that the “cheque is in the process of being delivered.”

Usha, Meenakshi’s mother had told reporters: “We have not so far received a cheque of Rs 5 lakh which CM Arvind Kejriwal announced when he came to our house after our daughter’s murder.”

Her father Rajkumar told NDTV that no one from the government had come to visit them either.

The couple said they were initially not allowed to enter the assembly premises, but were later allowed to sit in the visitors’ gallery to watch the proceedings.

“We have come here because we were told that our complaint would be resolved here,” said Usha.

Mr Kejriwal had visited the family on July 19, three days after Meenakshi was stabbed multiple times, allegedly because she had complained against harassment by a man in the neighbourhood.

Her murder was held up by the AAP government as the reason why it should take over the Delhi Police, which currently reports to the central government.

The government was censured by the court for the mega ad campaign focused on the murder. AAP, which Mr Kejriwal had recently declared was broke, told the court that it funded the ads.