Swati Maliwal said she will be not "be scared or silenced," after Anti-Graft Bureau investigation.
Swati Maliwal, chief of Delhi's Commission for Women, has said she will be not "be scared or silenced," after the Anti-Corruption Bureau or ACB visited her office this morning to investigate an allegation of "nepotism and favouritism."
It is acting on a complaint by Ms Maliwal's predecessor Barkha Shukla, who alleges that the present chief has appointed many functionaries or supporters of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party or AAP in the commission.
Ms Maliwal, 31, who was handpicked by Mr Kejriwal to head the commission last year, has denied the allegations. She told NDTV that of 42 people she has appointed, only two are connected to AAP.
"If ACB n bosses feel that I will be scared n silenced through this, dey are wrong," she tweeted, also alleging in a series of tweets that she is being targeted for doing her job.
"DCW will continue working for women. ACB is free to interrogate, question and arrest. Happy Rakshabandhan to all," she said.
"Modiji has not spared even someone who has done such good work," tweeted Mr Kejriwal, who has engaged in an intense power struggle with the BJP-led Centre for control of the capital's administration. The ACB is controlled by the Lieutenant Governor, the Centre's representative in Delhi.The ACB team reached the commission's office at 10.30 on Thursday morning and questioned senior staff members.
Ms Maliwal, who has not been questioned by the ACB so far, said, "We have given positions to three acid attack victims. We needed people to handle more cases. I have disposed off more than 400 cases in one year. The previous chief had only disposed of one case in a year and still took a full salary. Why isn't that being looked into?"
She defended her appointment of AAP leader HS Phulka's daughter, Prabhsahay Kaur, as
legal counsel for Delhi's Commission for Women, saying, "We are all somebody's daughter. What's important is that she is a competent lawyer and a member of the MCD standing council. All procedures have been followed in hiring these people."
The Delhi BJP has demanded Ms Maliwal's resignation.