Create database of govt officials accused of crimes against women: DCW

A database should be created of all such officers against whom cases of crimes against women and children have been filed regardless of the status of the complaints, the DCW chief said in a letter

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has written to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar demanding creation of a database of government officials accused of crimes against women and children, days after a WCD department officer was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl.

Shortly before he was arrested in the case registered on August 13, Premoday Khakha was suspended from his post as deputy director in the Women and Child Development (WCD) department following a direction from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Khakha is accused of raping a minor girl several times and impregnating her. His wife, Seema Rani, is accused of giving the girl abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy.

In her letter to Kumar, DCW chief Maliwal said the panel had issued a notice to the Department of Women and Child Development and Delhi Police.

"The commission has been informed that four complaints regarding sexual harassment at workplace were lodged against the accused person earlier. It is learnt that three complaints were submitted by three separate women while the fourth complaint was anonymous. All three complainants approached the High Court of Delhi," she said in the letter sent on Thursday.

While one application was disposed of by the high court, the remaining two are pending.

"It appears that the accused might be a serial offender and it's scary to imagine the access he had to women and children at large, having been posted in the sensitive department of Women and Child Development," she noted.

Maliwal recommended that the accused "needs to be terminated with immediate effect".

A database should be created of all such officers against whom cases of crimes against women and children have been filed regardless of the status of the complaints, the letter read.

"This database should also be shared with the Delhi Commission for Women. All these past and pending complaints should be re-examined by a committee of senior most officers and gender experts, and a decision should be taken on each and every officer as to whether the concerned person is fit to be posted in sensitive departments like the Women and Child Development, Social Welfare, Education...where they may have access to women and girls at large," the letter stated.

This database of all officers against whom cases of crimes against women and children have been filed should be maintained by the government and it should be shared regularly with the commission along with the decision taken in each of the cases, she added in the communication.

Maliwal also suggested that the government should set up a new robust Internal Complaints Committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act with more external experts from leading NGOs working on gender issues.

This committee should examine all pending complaints of sexual harassment at workplace against officers posted in the Delhi government and submit its report urgently to the government as well as the commission, she said.