DCW chief flays decision to scrap police area panels

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Wednesday flayed the scrapping of the city's police station-level area committees by Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.

"I told union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that it is the most anti-women decision of the LG," she told IANS after a 20-minute meeting with the home minister at his residence here.

"The minister assured me that he will take concrete steps in the matter after Holi as I pleaded that these thana-level committees should not be scrapped. He also agrees that these committees are important," Maliwal said.

"These committees are extremely important for fixing the accountability of Delhi Police directly towards the area people, specially women."

Maliwal said the committees were scrapped even though Jung appreciated them earlier.

"I realised that the LG had actually praised these committees in the past. I can't understand what happened in a year that he changed his mind, in the light of all the rapes that occurred in Delhi," the DCW chief said.