DCW honours 30 on International Women's Day

A fiesty Indian Police Service officer, a Bollywood actress and three Delhi UNiversity students were among 30 women honoured by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday on the International Women's Day -- apart from men who helped women in distress.

"In Delhi, six rapes are reported every day. The DCW deals with such cases all the time. The women of the state are screaming for help. We are working on finding solutions to women's issues," DCW chief Swati Maliwal said during the event held to mark the second edition of the annual International Women's Day Awards.

"We are celebrating Women's Day to glorify our unsung heroes for their efforts for furthering the cause of women," she added.

Among the awardees is the 2006-batch Indian Police Service officer from Assam Sanjukta Parashar, currently posted in the National Investigation Agency. The officer displayed immense courage while fighting militants in Assam.

"She created terror among the militants in Assam. During her 15-month tenure, she took down 16 militants, arrested over 64 others and seized tonnes of arms and ammunition," said Maliwal.

Dorris Francis, a housewife who for years on her own managed traffic at the busy Aitbar Pushta intersection on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border where her daughter was killed, was also among those honoured. She was struck with cancer and was honoured posthumously.

"She lost her 17-year-old daughter Nikki in a road accident on the Aitbar Pushta intersection in 2008. But she did not go into depression. She instead returned to that spot a few months after the accident, and took to managing the rush-hour traffic so that nobody else was killed," the DCW chief said.

Delhi University students Ritu Bhoraiya, Rashi Sharma and Sheetal Pawar, who fought off a mobile snatcher and helped the police in arresting the culprit in west Delhi, were also awarded for their courage.

Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar was honoured for being part of socially relevant films and taking a stand on issues affecting society.

Delhi Police con stables also figure in the awardees' list.

Constable Anand Singh was killed by three men in Bawana last year while saving a woman who was robbed of Rs 2,500 and mobile phone. He was awarded posthumously.

A Head Constable who probed the Danish woman gang-rape case of 2014 has also been felicitated.

Suvarna Raj, a para table tennis player, and Saylee Nandkishor Agavane, a specially-abled Kathak dancer, as well as acid-attack survivor Shaheen were among the honourees.