Was Maliwal's office locked? No proof, but nameplate missing

The Swati Maliwal story took a new twist on Thursday. Appointed as Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and then later struck down by lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, 30-year-old Maliwal on Thursday claimed that her office had been locked down but hours later it was found open though her nameplate was removed. 

When asked about the office being open contrary to her claims, she said her staff had gone to the office in the morning and found it locked. “It could have been opened later may be due to media pressure or any other reason. But it was locked in the morning. Since we were told we cannot sign any files, in a way the Commission closed down,” she said. 

Also on Wednesday she had claimed that l-G Jung’s office had communicated to her office not to come to office from tomorrow (Thursday) and that all the files will be taken away. But later she said it was the “lG’s secretariat and not Jung” which communicated to her office that she should not continue in the post.

However, a letter written by member secretary (DCW) Archana Arora tells a different story. “The Assistant Secretary, DCW, Gautam Majumdar, on Wednesday around 10 pm told that neither any instruction was received from any office to lock your office. This morning on coming to office I have checked up regarding locking of your office and found out that it was done as a routine practice which is often followed when officers are not in their office and no instruction was given to anyone,” said the letter that Arora had written in response to Maliwal’s demand to provide a clarification on all three issues. 

In contrast to Maliwal’s allegations that her nameplate was removed from her cabin, the letter stated, “No instructions were given by anyone to remove the nameplate. It has been clarified by Assistant Secretary Gautam Mazumdar that there were some spelling mistakes on the nameplate, therefore, probably some official removed it.” But Maliwal appears to be unconvinced with this and maintained that there was no spelling mistake.Asked why she had not gone to the DCW office, “I am not a DCW poster girl who will only work if she gets the top post, I will continue to work the way I have been working.”