Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal, whose tenure was extended till 2021, presented details of the commission's three years of work to the media on Tuesday.
Maliwal told reporters that in the last three years the Commission's workload has increased by over 700% and has dealt with 52,473 complaints. Taking a dig at the previous chairperson Barkha Shukla Singh, she stated that the former DCW chief personally handled only 1 case in over 8 years.
Maliwal said, “We have assisted survivors of sexual assault in 35,606 hearings in court. 2.35 lakh helpline calls were acted upon, 43,497 visits to assist women in distress were taken, 10,619 complaints were registered with Mahila Panchayat centres and 15,843 community meetings were organized by Mahila Panchayats.”
She also reminded the reporters of her 10 day hunger strike in April where she demanded death penalty to rapists of minors. The “Rape Roko” movement allegedly received 5.5 lac supports from people demanding time bound death penalty for rapists of minors.
Maliwal also talked about prostitution work hiding behind the mask of massage parlors and stated that she wants to work on the issue. She also stated that she is firmly against legalization of prostitution and wants to continue demanding shutting down brothels in GB Road. She gave the example of Amsterdam and claimed that trafficking and exploitation has increased with legalization of prostitution. “It is the worst form of Slavery”, Maliwal said.
On Sanitary pads being exempted from GST, she stated that she believes it is an accomplishment for the commission as they had requested the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to exempt sanitary pads from GST. She stated that she would work with the Delhi Government to supply sanitary pads in schools and homes, and stated it as a priority for the next three years of her tenure.
Maliwal said, “Our focus for the next three years would be death penalty for rapist of minors within 6 months, increase in police force and settle women's cases within 6 months, ban trafficking, prostitution and stop liquor and drugs mafia.”