Maliwal says 'won't play blame game, will keep fighting for our cause'

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal, against whom the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has filed an FIR over alleged irregularities in appointment of staff in the women's panel, on Tuesday insisted that she would continue with her fight and would keep on raising questions even if she is put behind bars.

Speaking to ANI, Maliwal said, "Every politician and the people of Delhi know that we are working. In the last one year, we have raised 12,000 cases. The DCW is raising questions. But there are some people in the national capital, who do not like these questions."

"They are continuously trying to create differences between the Centre and the state. They are thinking that they can threaten me by lodging an FIR. They are wrong as I am the product of movement. If they think that they can stop us then they are wrong. Even if they put me in jail, I will fight for our cause," she added.

The DCW chief, however, refused to divulge the names of anyone, saying, "I don't want to name anybody as I don't want to play any blame game, let them do whatever they want to."

The FIR has been filed under Prevention of Corruption Act and comes after she was grilled by the ACB yesterday over the matter.

Speaking to the media after being questioned, Maliwal said that they have asked her 27 questions and have given her a week to respond, adding that the questions pertain to how the DCW managed to make so many appointments.

"In the past one year, we have handled 11,500 cases and attended 2.25 lakh calls. In the past eight years, the former chairperson managed only one case. What is troubling everyone is how we managed to do so much work? We will cooperate with the investigation," Maliwal said.

The DCW is under the ACB scanner for arbitrarily appointing 85 people in the past year.

Around 90 percent of contractual staff of the DCW are the AAP members.

Earlier, the ACB had raided Maliwal's office following a complaint by former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh alleging that it was indulging in illegal practices of appointing its party associates to plum posts.

However, Maliwal said she will be not "be scared or silenced," and that the DCW will continue working for women.