The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Thursday said that an external agency has been engaged by the commission to conduct social audits of shelter homes in Delhi.
The move comes after a girl and eight women went missing from a shelter home in Dilshad Garden on Sunday morning.
“An agreement was signed between the DCW and Koshish, which is a field project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences [TISS], Mumbai, to conduct the exercise. Under the leadership of Md. Tariq, director, Koshish, and assistant professor, TISS has started social auditing of shelter homes in Delhi” the DCW said in a statement.
The women’s commission said that the team from Koshish is visiting all shelter homes in the Capital and auditing on various aspects, including infrastructure, facilities provided, attitude of staff and others .
“The Koshish team shall inform the commission immediately in case any instance of abuse are discovered in the homes. The team shall also document best practices and lacuna in policy in its report,” said the commission.
DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said, “The Commission has engaged TISS to independently conduct audits of all homes for women and girls in Delhi. The Commission shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that shelter homes in the Capital become places of protection and care for women and girls.”
The DCW added that in a meeting held on Thursday, Mr. Sisodia said, “The government of NCT Delhi is keen to overhaul and improve the functioning of all the shelter homes and has therefore invited an external agency to examine the status and issues of homes in a non-partisan manner and present a clear picture to the government”.
Ms. Maliwal said that the report of a pilot social audit started by the commission in September is being prepared and will be submitted to the government. The commission further said that a social audit conducted by Koshish had unearthed the Muzzafarpur shelter home case.
