'What are you trying to hide?' Swati Maliwal denied meeting with minor rape survivor's mother; continues stir

Delhi Commission for Women head Swati Maliwal who has sit in dharna since Monday afternoon demanding audience with mother of rape survivor impregnated by Delhi's Women and Child Development (WCD) Department deputy director wanted to know why the police was against her meeting.

New Delhi:If the chief of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) can meet the mother of minor rape survivor, why would the police prevent the chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), wondered the DCW chief Swati Maliwal, who has been on a sit-in stir outside the Delhi hospital where the minor girl has been admitted.

Swati Maliwal who has been at the hospital since 12 noon on Monday, wanted to know what the Delhi police were trying to hide from her.

"I am sitting outside the hospital to meet the victim girl or her family. Slept outside the hospital at night. NCPCR can be introduced to the girl's mother, so why have I been asked to stop? What are you trying to hide?" she wrote in X, formerly known as Twitter, in Hindi, sharing a picture of her from the hospital premises.

Swati, in another post, said: "If she(Swati Maliwal) does not come to meet, then they say that she did not come to meet. When she comes to meet, they are not allowing her to meet the survivor and are now saying that she is doing drama. The extent to which the politics have plunged is that the ability to speak truth by those criticising has ended." "Do politics, do a lot. But not on (our) daughters!"

The accused identified as Premoday Khakha, who was posted as the Deputy director of Delhi Government's Women and Child Development department, has since been suspended by the Delhi government. He has been booked under POCSO Act for raping the minor girl, a class XII student repeatedly in North Delhi's Burari.

Delhi police sources said Premoday Khakha and his wife were picked up for questioning in the alleged sexual assault that led to the impregnation of the girl. According to the survivor's account, Khakha repeatedly raped her between 2020 and 2021, with the assistance of his wife.

The survivor is a daughter of Khakha's friend.

On Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal informed the media that he had ordered the suspension of Khakha and sought a report from the Chief Secretary.

"The (accused) Delhi government official has exerted clout that's why he was not arrested for 10 days by Delhi Police. We have come here to meet the victim but we are not allowed by police to do so," the DCW chief had charged.

"A government officer who was sitting on the post of Deputy Director in the Women and Child Development Department for so long, has been accused of raping a 16-year-old minor girl and when she got pregnant, he and his wife tried to abort the pregnancy."

"We have issued notice to Delhi Police, why is he not arrested yet, we are also issuing a notice to Delhi govt because we want to know what are the complaints against him and what actions have been taken against him," Maliwal had earlier asked.