DCW seeks HC chief justice’s permission to access court files

In a path breaking initiative, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) is planning to conduct a research on ‘justice delivery mechanism’ and legal hurdles faced by women and girls in the courts particularly in cases related to crime against women. In this regard DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal has written a letter to Chief Justice of Delhi high court G Rohini to allow access to all the court files pending in various courts of the city.

“The DCW wants to undertake the research in order to understand the problems being faced by women and girls while dealing with justice delivery mechanism,” said Maliwal. 

In mentioning that the research involves analysis of judicial files of trial courts for a particular period, the DCW chief has requested the Chief Justice to provide permission “for the assessment of files,” said Maliwal in the letter written to Rohini on Monday. 

“DCW intends to carry out a research to assess the status of implementation of the Protection of Child from sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 and the protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005,” she added in the letter. 

In highlighting the mandate provided to DCW, Maliwal wrote that the DCW, 1994 Act allows the commission to investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided for women and girls under the Constitution and other laws and provide recommendations to the government.

Maliwal further mentioned that Section 10 of the DCW Act mandated the commission to undertake research on various issues relating to women rights. “In times when crimes against women especially sexual assaults and domestic violence are on a rise in Delhi, the DCW wanted to use its mandate and research on how effectively have the three acts have been implemented over the years,” added Maliwal. DCW Chairperson has argued that an in depth research on the implementation of the three Acts will provide the DCW a deep understanding of the problems and it will help them in providing more suitable recommendations to the government on pertinent issues. 

Since she was appointed chairperson, Maliwal is aggressively working to ensure the rights of women and provide assistance to women victims of the city. Recently, DCW filed a PIL in the Delhi high court over the formation of a high-level committee to prevent rising sexual crimes against women and children in the city.