Swati Maliwal accuses Delhi Police of stopping DCW from holding hunger strike at Jantar Mantar

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday accused the police of trying to disrupt their indefinite hunger strike over the Telangana rape and murder case.

"Delhi Police is time and again trying to stop us from holding the indefinite hunger strike. They are trying to make us leave from Jantar Mantar and are also not letting us know where to go so that we can continue our fight for women's rights," Maliwal told ANI here.

Maliwal further said that the indefinite hunger strike will not end, irrespective of whatever actions the police might take, and urged the officials to help them in their endeavour.

"We haven't even put a tent or even a loudspeaker, what problems can we cause to anyone? They are asking us to go to Ramleela Maidan, do they not know that it is a hub for gamblers and alcoholics? Our fight is not against the police but the system, we appeal to the Prime Minister to ensure that rapists are given stringent punishments within six months in the country," she said.

"We would like the police personnel to help us in our fight as they too have daughters and sisters at their homes, that is what we would like to say to them," she added.

The DCW chairperson further demanded a quick filling up of the empty posts in Delhi Police to ensure women's safety in the national capital.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi, who too was at the protest site added, "Every child in the country is speaking against the act. Those who raped and burned the veterinarian should be set ablaze."

Earlier today, Maliwal had said that the indefinite hunger strike would continue until the Central government gives assurance that rapists will be hanged within six months, Nirbhaya fund is efficiently utilized and more police personnel are deployed across the country.

Her decision came in the backdrop of the gruesome rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Telangana and a six-year-old in Rajasthan last week.

"Last year on the 10th day of my hunger strike, the Prime Minister made stringent laws prescribing a person who rapes minor to be hanged within six months. I am going to sit on an indefinite hunger strike and it will last until the laws which have been formulated are implemented," Maliwal had said.