Former Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Thursday slammed Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena's move to approve the sacking of 223 DCW employees, including women acid attack survivors on grounds that their employment is “irregular” and “illegal”. Maliwal, in a tweet on X, said, "Today these acid attack victims were also fired from their jobs… Delhi Women's Commission had given them a new life. God is watching everything."
Maliwal's response came soon after Saxena's order which read, “The approval of government is hereby conveyed to DCW to discontinue service of all contractual staff with immediate effect who have been appointed by the DCW at any point in time, by going beyond its delegated powers and without following various procedures laid down and in violation of DCW Act/rules/regulations/guidelines issued by Govt. of NCT of Delhi,” read a notice issued by Saxena’s office on April 29."
Maliwal also shared a video of an acid attack survivor from Kashmir, identified as Shabnam. In the video, Shabnam shared her journey and showed how she was given a new life by the DCE chief.
In the video, the acid attack survivor said, "I was attacked with acid in 2011. I was being treated in Kashmir but was not getting any better. Finally when the first surgery happened in Delhi it was successful. After that I met a girl who made me meet Swati ma'am who has helped me a lot. I had lost all the hope. I used to think that I would not be able to do anything. Swati ma'am gave me a job, made me learn and kept looking after my treatment. I have been working in Delhi Mahila Aayog's Mahila Panchayat department for the last six years. Now everything is fine thanks to Swati ma'am. She transformed me into someone."
Watch the video here:
Maliwal labels Saxena’s order as a “Tughlaqi farmaan”
Maliwal, who is now a Rajya Sabha member representing the Aam Aadmi Party, labelled Saxena’s order as a “Tughlaqi farmaan”.
In a Hindi post on X, she said, "LG Saheb has issued a 'Tughlaqi' order to remove all the contract staff of DCW. Today, there are a total of 90 staffers in the Women's Commission, out of which only 8 people have been given by the government, the rest are on a contract for 3 months each."
"If all the contract staff are removed, the Women's Commission will be locked. Why are these people doing this? This organisation is built with blood and sweat. Instead of giving it staff and protection, you are destroying it from the roots? As long as I am alive, I will not let the Women's Commission be closed. Put me in jail, don't oppress women!" Maliwal said.
