Delhi Women's Panel Chief Swati Maliwal Accused Of Corruption, Case Filed

New Delhi: Delhi police's Anti-Corruption Branch today filed a case against state women's panel chief Swati Maliwal for giving plum posts to Aam Aadmi Party workers in the panel.

Senior police official MK Meena confirmed that a case had been filed against Ms Maliwal, and added that she had one week to reply to a 27 point questionnaire sent to her.

On Monday the police had questioned her for over two hours during a raid on the Delhi Commission for Women office.

Ms Maliwal has been charged under various sections of the law including corruption by a public servant, breach of public trust and criminal conspiracy.

Claiming she had done nothing wrong, Ms Maliwal said she was ready to "sacrifice to change the system."

Speaking to NDTV Ms Maliwal said: "You can put me in jail, but you cannot suppress my voice."

Explaining why a large number of people were inducted in the panel on a short notice, Ms Maliwal said it was done to handle the large number of complaints received by the panel.

"It was an emergency like situation and I had no option. Almost overnight operations of the 181 helpline - women's helpline distress number - were taken over by the DCW. We could not have put a lock on the helpline so we had to recruit people to help us."

The action against Ms Maliwal comes nearly a month after Congress leader and former head of the women's panel, Barkha Singh Shukla, filed a complaint alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi recruited party workers to the women's panel without following established procedure.

Pointing to a list of 85 names, Ms Shukla had also alleged that almost all of the previous women staff of the Commission were dismissed, and replaced by male workers belonging to AAP. No public advertisement was issued announcing vacancies before the appointments were made, which is mandatory under law.

Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay will meet Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung later today to demand Ms Maliwal's dismissal.