From Delhi slums to the Rajya Sabha: The story of Swati Maliwal

In an ironic twist, the National Commission for Women (NCW) will send an inquiry team to look into the alleged assault on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who has been the head of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

Maliwal, a firebrand leader, created a flutter today by alleging that a member of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal staff misbehaved with her at the CM's residence during a meeting. Police officials said she went to the Civil Lines police station and also made calls to the PCR van but did not lodge a formal complaint, PTI reported.

How Swati Maliwal joined politics
Elected to the Rajya Sabha in January this year, Maliwal has been more of an activist than a politician. She became known as the head of DCW where she brought a lot of energy to her job and remained in the headlines. Kejriwal had once called Maliwal ''Delhi's Lady Singham'' who was not scared and had rescued several women and children without thinking about her own safety. Maliwal was the youngest to head the women's panel at an age of 31.

Maliwal was born in 1984 in Ghaziabad and reportedly brought up by a single mother. She went to Amity International School and holds a degree in information technology but spurned her first job offer to work in the social sector. She joined the Kejriwal's NGO Parivartan and started working with people living in the slums. She even lived in the slums in East Delhi to experience the life of the slum-dwellers.

Maliwal was the youngest member of the core committee of India Against Corruption, the NGO started by Kejriwal which was behind the Lokpal agitation which became a nationwide movement and ultimately catapulted him to politics with the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party. When the AAP won the Delhi elections for the first time, Maliwal was appointed an advisor to Kejriwal.

Maliwal was appointed as the DCW chairperson in 2015 where she stayed till 2023. In 2018, she made the headlines for going on an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar demanding a death penalty for rapists within six months of their conviction. The protest was triggered by the gang rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad and the rape of a six-year-old girl in Rajasthan. However, she ended her strike a few days later without any concrete outcomes. At the DCW, she took several new initiatives such as a women's helpline.

She also became famous for her dramatic style. Last year, she took to X to narrate how she was molested and dragged by an inebriated car driver for at least 15 metres while she was out on inspection during the night. "If the Chairperson of the Women's Commission is not safe in Delhi, then imagine the situation," she wrote.

Early this month, Delhi Lieutenant governor VK Saxena ordered the immediate termination of 223 employees from the DCW who were allegedly appointed by Maliwal. The directive said the commission is authorised to have 40 staff members. It said an additional 223 positions were established without obtaining the necessary approval from the LG. The order clarified that the commission lacks the power to employ people on a contractual basis.

Maliwal took to X to respond to the LG. "LG sahab has issued a Tughlaqi order to remove all the contract staff of DCW. Today, the Women's commission has a total staff of 90 out of which only 8 people have been provided by the government, the rest are on 3-month contracts. If all the contract staff is removed, the Women's Commission will be locked. Why are these people doing this? This institution has been built with blood and sweat. Instead of giving it staff and protection, you are destroying it from its roots? I will not let the Women's Commission be closed as long as I am alive. Put me in jail, don't torture women!" she wrote on 'X' in Hindi.

Maliwal's troubled childhood
Last year, Maliwal disclosed that she had been sexually assaulted by her father during her childhood. The experience left a lasting impact on her, and she was driven to fight for the rights of women as a result.

Maliwal, speaking to journalists after the DCW International Women's Day Awards ceremony, revealed that she had experienced abuse up until she was in the fourth grade. "I was sexually assaulted by my father when I was a child. I was very small at that time. My father used to beat me up and I used to hide under the bed to save myself," she said.

"While hiding under the bed, I used to think how I will teach a lesson to such men who abuse women and children, and how I can help women get their rights," she said. Narrating her ordeal, Maliwal said that her father would grab her by her braid and slam her against the wall, leading to severe bleeding. "This happened till I was in Class 4," she recalled. Maliwal's disclosure came after actor and National Commission for Women (NCW) member Khushbu Sundar said she was sexually abused by her father.

(With inputs from PTI)