Court grants bail to Maliwal

Tis Hazari Court on Monday granted bail to DCW chief Swati Maliwal in a case of alleged irregularities in appointments to the women's rights panel.

Special Judge Hemani Malhotra granted the bail to the Delhi Commission for Women chief after asking her to furnish a personal and surety bond of Rs 20,000.

While granting bail, the court observed that the case was based on documentary evidence. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ABC) had filed a charge-sheet on December 21, 2016, after a complaint by former DCW chief Bharkha Shukla Singh who alleged that several AAP supporters were given plum posts with salary allegedly ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh in the women's panel.

"I have full faith in the judiciary and I have not done anything illegal and I hope there will be justice," Maliwal said.

"The workload of the Commission increased manifold and to ease down the same and streamline the work, appointments were made on short-term emergent contract basis for 3 months," she added.

According to the prosecution, the probe revealed that the remuneration amount was hiked in a whimsical manner thereby granting undue pecuniary benefits to the close associates of Maliwal and those connected to AAP.

Maliwal on Monday tweeted: "Truth can never be defeated. I did not do any wrong. My job is my ritual and I worship it. I am confident on the Court". During its probe, ACB in its charge-sheet against Maliwal had annexed a list of 20 people connected to the AAP, who were appointed to the DCW. The 600-page charge-sheet, filed in a special court, alleged irregularities in 91 appointments to the DCW.

It also stated that the previous Commission's work and the present effecting working of the Commission which includes dealing with 12,000 cases in a year and issuing 3,500 notices to Delhi Police, making 55 recommendations to the Central and state government and 7,500 field visits accompanied with three new programmes wouldn't have been possible without adequate staff.

Maliwal denied the charges and said the action was taken to put pressure on her not to investigate cases against leaders of a political party.