‘Enhanced coordination needed between Centre and Delhi govt’

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson, Swati Maliwal has asked Union government to establish a forum to enhance coordination between the Centre and Delhi government to tackle issues related to women safety in the national Capital. Speaking at a conference organised by PHD chamber on Wednesday, she also dwelt upon the factors responsible for lack of women safety in Delhi.

“There is lack of coordination between Centre and Delhi government and there is no forum at the political level to coordinate the actions of the two governments. As you all know, Delhi Police are under the Central government. So the coordination becomes very necessary to ensure the safety of women in the Capital. What we should do is establish a forum where Delhi’s Chief Minister and Union Home Minister can sit together at least twice a month and take decisions related to women safety,” Maliwal said.

She further said that poor police investigation, dearth of resources with the police, want of more forensic science laboratories (Delhi has only one forensic laboratory), and large numbers of pending cases in the courts are responsible for securing safety of women in the Capital.

Speaking about the recent incident of an 80-year-old woman abused by her daughter, Maliwal said that DCW has appointed two caretakers to look after her. She added: “When DCW visited her house we found that there was no food in her house except rotten kneaded flour and fungus-ridden bread.”

Addressing the conference former Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit called for the need for behavioural change to bring about safety and security of women. Dikshit said: “We have to put our society right.”