DCW summons FRRO officials over death of S African woman

Taking into cognisance the death of a South African girl who was under detention at the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) since December, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has summoned the FRRO officials.

The officials have been asked to appear before the Commission on February 22. Criticising the approach of the FRRO, DCW chief Swati

Maliwal stated that the office did not provide the information about the detention of South African girl to the Commission. The DCW chief further stated that the FRRO had abdicated their responsibility by not looking after the South African girl, which eventually led to her death.

"The girl from South Africa, who had been detained by the FRRO since December 2016, has died in hospital. The arbitrary release of the girl by the FRRO at a time when she was critically ill resulted in her being abandoned at a time of need. The DCW has been seeking reasons for her detention, as well as other women detained in Nirmal Chhaya since January," mentioned the notice by sent by DCW to FRRO.

Making a scathing comment on the non-transparency in the functioning of the FRRO, Maliwal further said that not sharing the right information with DCW amounts to wrongdoing by the FRRO officials.

"The DCW has observed that functioning of FRRO is non-transparent and the women detainees, some of whom are refugees, are mostly unaware of the reasons for their detention. There is no clarity on the proposed dates of deportation and the detainees are not provided legal support whatsoever. DCW has observed that this basic information is not available with the Social Welfare department either, which is responsible for running the deportation centre," the statement read.

The DCW chief also said that providing unclear answers and hiding vital facts from the statutory bodies raised serious questions over the functioning of FRRO. The Commission also rejected the claims of certain FRRO officials, who had claimed that vital information of the organisation must not be shared with DCW.

Maliwal reiterated that the constitution has empowered DCW to undertake special investigations, take up promotional and educational research and evaluate the progress in development of women in Delhi.