Delhi minor rape: DCW chief Swati Maliwal slept at hospital in protest

Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), spent Monday night in the hospital after being barred from meeting the 16-year-old girl who was sexually abused by a senior Delhi government employee.

Maliwal accused the Delhi Police of hooliganism on Tuesday morning, saying, “They are not allowing me to meet the girl or her mother. I’m not sure what the cops are trying to hide from me.”

“According to reports, the head of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights was allowed to speak with the girl’s mother. Why is it that the NCPCR chairwoman is allowed to meet with the mother but not the DCW chief?,” Maliwal questioned.

Taking to X, formally know as Twitter, Maliwal wrote, “Since 12 noon yesterday, I am sitting outside the hospital to meet the victim girl or her family. Slept outside the hospital at night. The NCPCR can be introduced to the girl’s mother, so why have I been asked to stop? What are you trying to hide?”

For several months, the girl had been sexually assaulted, which resulted in her pregnancy. Premoday Khakha (51) and his wife Seema Rani (50) were arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday.

“In the case of sexual assault with a minor, we have arrested two persons. One of them is Premoday Khakha, 51 years old, is a Deputy Director in the Department of Women and Child Development of GNCT and the second accused is his wife, Seema Rani, 50 years old,” DCP (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.