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New LG must help ‘rebuild’ DCW: Swati Maliwal

In her short tenure of one-and-half years till date, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal has had her fair…

New LG must help ‘rebuild’ DCW: Swati Maliwal

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal (PHOTO: Twitter)

In her short tenure of one-and-half years till date, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal has had her fair share of controversies right from her appointment to a long-drawn battle with the previous Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over various issues. However, on the back of “positive” talks held recently with the new LG, Anil Baijal, the young engineer is looking forward to “rebuilding” the commission.

In an exclusive interview to thestatesman.com, Maliwal said, with a new LG at the helm, she wants to forget past controversies and start afresh.

“I have held positive talks with the new LG mainly for women’s safety in Delhi which is the main concern. And have  sought Baijal ji’s help on ending previous controversies for the smooth functioning of the commission,” Maliwal said.

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And, the process to rebuild the commission begins with taking bold decisions to secure the city’s women who at present are very vulnerable, feels Maliwal, who has worked with many NGO’s advocating women’s rights.

“Every day we get cases of violence against women and everyday six-seven Nirbhayas (Dec 16 gangrape victim) are born in Delhi. We need a high-level committee which needs to look into the safety of women in Delhi,” Maliwal said.

Highlighting that the highest number of crimes registered against women in Delhi are domestic violence, rape and stalking, Maliwal said Delhi was supposed to get ‘one-stop centres’ for women where victims could lodge a complaint without worrying about social stigma but that has not happened so far.

“A meeting was held between the Delhi CM and Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi for the centres and it was decided that DCW will be given 11 one-stop centres across Delhi,” said the DCW chairperson.

“It has been two to three months now but there has been no development,” she added.

Asserting the need to set up a high level committee for women, she said that the DCW has given a recommendation on digitisation of police records to the new LG.

“The system should have digitised software to be able to track the areas where highest crimes against women are reported. The information received should be well tracked and updated every day,” she said.

She further said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, LG Anil Baijal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with the DCW should meet at least twice every month and hold “serious discussions” on the issues facing the women of the national capital.

“Unless the stakeholders and the decision makers sit down with us (DCW) and analyze the problems and take serious steps to ensure women’s safety, nothing is going to change,” Maliwal said.

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