: The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Thursday carried out a search at the office of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) after two complaints were filed against the women’s body over appointments and one against misuse of office.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “raid” by the Centre-controlled ACB. In his tweet in Hindi, he said: “Modiji did not even leave DCW, which is doing such commendable work. Modiji has done a very bad thing.”
Former DCW chief and Congress leader Barkha Shukla Singh, former Delhi Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta had filed separate complaints with the ACB, the police and the Lieutenant-Governor against DCW chief Swati Maliwal alleging nepotism and favouritism by appointing AAP volunteers and supporters, and misusing her position.
“The AAP supporters who work in the DCW were appointed without following any procedure. It is a scam,” said Mr Gupta.
DCW officials said their entire office was locked down while ACB officials searched the premises. They said copies of the files pertaining to the recruitments were taken away. As a Gandhigiri measure, the female staff of the DCW tied rakhis to the ACB officials. “Modiji made ACB officials work on Raksha Bandhan. So we ensured that their ‘sisters’ tied them rakhis ,” said a member of the DCW.
Scam
Later, addressing a press conference, Ms. Maliwal said the raid was conducted to deter DCW officials from “aggressively” working towards women’s safety.
Slamming Ms. Singh, Ms. Maliwal said during her nine-year tenure as the DCW chief, Ms. Singh had disposed of only one case while in the past one year (after Ms. Maliwal took charge), more than 400 cases had been taken up. “In nine years, just one case. Isn’t this a scam?”
She said that earlier 42 people were working with DCW but due to increased work, now around 80 people work.
“Among those appointed in the DCW are three acid attack survivors and women from Nari Niketan. We had to hire more people as a lot of cases are pending. On an average, a case is disposed of in a week’s time, and for this, the DCW has been working on Saturdays as well for the past five months,” the DCW chief said.
Recently, the DCW also took over the 181 helpline for women in distress, and augmented its resources.
“We are trying to make this city a safer place, even as the L-G and the Home Ministry are not holding any meeting on women safety with us,” she claimed.
