Govt ‘dismantling’ women’s panel, Maliwal writes to CM

New Delhi, July 2

Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP and former Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal has written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, expressing serious concerns about the Delhi Government’s recent actions regarding women’s and children’s protection systems.

‘Staff not paid salary’

Ever since I resigned from the post of chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, the ministers and officers of the Delhi Government have opened a front against the commission. None of the staff has been paid salary for the last six months and the budget has been reduced by 28.5 per cent. — Swati Maliwal, Rajya Sabha MP

Maliwal alleged that since her resignation in January, there has been a “systematic dismantling” of the systems she had established during her eight-year tenure at the commission.

One of the key issues Maliwal highlighted in her letter was the Delhi Government’s decision to arbitrarily take over the commission’s 181 helpline for women and children in distress, which was subsequently shut down on July 1.

Maliwal said, “The survivors of rape and other crimes have been left without crucial assistance for over 48 hours.”

Delhi’s Women and Child Development Department (WCD) will now be responsible for managing the women helpline. Delhi WCD Minister Kailash Gahlot said, “The women helpline number 181, which was operational till June 30, 2024, was previously managed by the DCW. However, the Government of India has mandated that the helpline be operated by the Women and Child Development Department.”

In her letter, Maliwal alleged that the DCW staff had not been paid salary for the last six months and the panel’s budget had been reduced by 28.5 per cent.

Maliwal also criticised the discontinuation of funds allocated to the commission.

She further noted that the removal of contractual staff, who constitute the majority of the commission’s workforce, had severely impacted its ability to function.

The former DCW chief pointed out that several leadership positions, including that of the chairperson, remain vacant, thereby hindering the commission’s operations. She also emphasised the unmet requirement of having at least one Dalit member in a crucial position. “Over the past eight years, my team and I painstakingly built the commission from the ground up, making it the most efficient women’s commission in the country,” Maliwal stated.

She urged Kejriwal to intervene and halt the “deliberate disintegration” of the DCW, emphasising the critical importance of safeguarding systems that protect women and girls in a city often referred to as the “rape Capital of the world”.