On ‘dharna’, DCW chief Swati Maliwal slept at hospital, accuses police of ‘hooliganism’

Swati Maliwal sat on a dharna at a hospital, claiming that she was prevented from meeting the minor girl allegedly raped by a Delhi official.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal spent Monday night at the hospital after she was stopped from meeting the 16-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a senior Delhi government official.

Accusing the Delhi Police of indulging in hooliganism, Maliwal on Tuesday morning said, “They are neither allowing me to meet the girl nor her mother. I can’t understand what do the police want to hide from me. I am being told that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson was allowed to meet the girl’s mother. When the NCPCR chairperson can meet the mother, why is the DCW chief not being allowed for the same?”

Taking to X (formally Twitter) Maliwal wrote, “Since 12 noon yesterday, I am sitting outside the hospital to meet the victim girl or her family. Slept outside the hospital at night. The NCPCR can be introduced to the girl’s mother, so why have I been asked to stop? What are you trying to hide?”

The girl has been sexually assaulted for several months resulting in her pregnancy. On Monday, the Delhi Police arrested the government official Premoday Khakha (51) and his wife Seema Rani (50).

“In the case of sexual assault with a minor, we have arrested two persons. One of them is Premoday Khakha, 51 years old, is a Deputy Director in the Department of Women and Child Development of GNCT and the second accused is his wife, Seema Rani, 50 years old,” DCP (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

According to police following the death of her father, who was also a Delhi government employee, the minor was living with the accused in Burari from October 2020 to February 2021.

The Delhi government on Monday suspended the official accused of raping a minor victim. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, Premoday Khakha, Assistant Director is hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect,” an official order issued by Delhi government read.

The order comes after the official was booked for allegedly raping the minor.