Almost every day, newspapers carry stories covering the latest incidents of rape, harassment or molestation in the national Capital. With a population anywhere between 12 and 18 million, depending on whether satellite towns are counted, some such cases are inevitable but the recent wave of violence against women has reached new peak. The Delhi government and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) have taken a slew of measures to bring down the crime rate amongst Delhi’s womenfolk who now form a substantial part of this fragmented, incoherent city that has turned into nothing but an “urban jungle.”
But there seems to be a concerted effort by authorities to attack and prevent the real crusaders from performing their work. The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered an FIR against DCW chief Swati Maliwal on Tuesday in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment in the women’s panel. She was also questioned for two hours on Monday by a team comprising six ACB officials. Maliwal was also handed over a questionnaire seeking her reply to 27 queries within a week’s time.
This has taken place on a day when a 21-year-old school teacher was stabbed to death, who attacked her nearly 22 times in a span of two-and-a-half minutes as passers-by looked on in North Delhi’s Burari area. The irony — the FIR has been lodged against a real crusader who has been extremely active in raising very important issues regarding women’s safety in the national Capital. “A case under Sections 13(D) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been registered against Maliwal,” said a senior ACB officer.
The ACB had taken up the probe on a complaint by former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh, who alleged that several AAP supporters were given plum posts in the women’s panel. Singh, in her complaint, had listed the names of 85 people who, she claimed, got jobs “without requisite credentials”.
However, there has been no forthcoming explanation from the ACB as to why the FIR has been lodged and needless to mention, the complainant Barkha Singh did not exactly have a “remarkable” stint with the DCW. During her tenure, only one case was handled in eight years! Apart from this, there are allegations against Singh that she had also appointed wives of IAS and IPS officials for 49 contractual posts that were never advertised.
Terming the probe as an “attempt” to “silence” the women’s panel that has been raising a lot of questions, Maliwal said: “In one year, we have handled 11,500 cases and attended 2.25 lakh calls on helpline number 181. The former DCW chief handled only one case. DCW asks questions whenever a rape is reported. This is disturbing a lot of people. But we will continue to raise questions.”
In a series of tweets, she added: “There are a few people whom I would not like to name, they are trying that the two (Centre and Delhi government) do not work together... This FIR is fake, I have not done anything wrong.” She further said: “If we have to change the system we will have to make some sacrifices. I will not be scared.”