Charges to be framed against DCW chief Swati Maliwal in corruption case

The court said the perusal of minutes of the meetings held on various dates by the DCW were “enough to prima facie point to a strong suspicion that the appointments in question were made by the accused persons in agreement with each other”

A Delhi court on Thursday ordered framing of corruption and criminal conspiracy charges against Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal and others for “prima facie” abusing their official positions to appoint Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers to different posts in the women’s rights body.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal. (HT Archive)

Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh also ordered that former DCW members Promila Gupta, Sarika Chaudhary and Farheen Malick be put on trial.

The court said the perusal of minutes of the meetings held on various dates by the DCW, of which all four accused were signatories, were “enough to prima facie point to a strong suspicion that the appointments in question were made by the accused persons in agreement with each other”.

“After all, none of the three accused besides AI (Maliwal) ever objected to or gave a dissenting note to the illegal appointments. Rather, the decisions were claimed to have been arrived at unanimously in those meetings,” the judge said.

The court also said that “the circumstances prima facie strongly indicate such a conspiracy between the accused persons”.

“Accordingly, a strong suspicion does arise against all the four accused persons and the facts do disclose prima facie sufficient material to frame charges against all the four accused persons for offences,” the judge said.

The court ordered framing of charges against the accused under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Section 13(1)(d) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case was lodged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on a complaint by former DCW chairperson and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Barkha Shukla Singh on September 20, 2016.

Maliwal had earlier said that the First Information Report will not act as a deterrent for her and the panel will continue to work and raise questions, which is “disturbing her opponents the most”.

“Even if I am sent to jail, I will prepare a report on the condition of women there and submit it to the Delhi government. The Delhi government and the Centre are working together to ensure safety of women,” she had said.

According to the prosecution, the accused, in conspiracy with each other, abused their official positions and obtained pecuniary advantages for AAP workers, who were appointed to different DCW posts without due process.

The appointments were made in contravention of rules without even advertising for the posts, in violation of General Finance Rules (GFR) and other guidelines, and that money was disbursed to various such persons towards remuneration/salary/honorarium, it said.

The prosecution said a total of 90 appointments were made in the DCW between August 6, 2015 and August 1, 2016. Of these, 71 people were appointed on a contractual basis and 16 were appointed for ‘Dial 181’ distress helpline.

No record qua appointment of remaining three appointees could be found, it said.