STF for safety of Delhi women reconstituted

New Delhi: In a bid to safeguard women in Delhi, a special task force has been constituted on Saturday. The chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women has also been included in the special task force.

The lieutenant-governor will be chairperson of the special task force. A total of 17 members will be there in the force, which will conduct meetings every 15 days.

The special task force will be empowered to review the decisions of Delhi police and other departments.

Almost for around a year, the Delhi Commission for Women had fought for the special task force with home ministry and the lieutenant-governor.

Earlier, the special task force made in the leadership of Central home secretary was dissolved in 2016. The special task force was constituted at the time of Nirbhaya rape case. DCW chief had raised the issue of special task force in the meeting with the newly appointed L-G Anil Baijal.

The home department of the Delhi government had issued orders for the reconstitution of the STF after Mr Baijal’s nod on January 17. The same has been formed in response to notice of the high court on the DCW petition to the L-G, asking why no task force has been set up on women safety.

The DCW said that the task force will provide a common platform for Centre, the Delhi police and the city government to work on the issues concerning safety of women. “The Delhi Commission for Women has struggled for the last one-and-a-half years for the reconstitution of the task force and finally the task force has been formed. The special task force was finally formed only after the intervention of the high court of Delhi. The Delhi Commission for Women has been constantly demanding the formation of this task force to safeguard the safety of women in Delhi. A task force in which the Centre, the Delhi Government, Delhi police and the commission should all be involved, so that all parties can come together and take decisions about the ground realities and women’s security,” a DCW statement said.

It added, “This is important because due to the special status of Delhi, the Delhi police ,which is the key link for the safety of women in the city, is under the Central government. Despite this dichotomy, there was no common platform where the state government, the Central government and the police could come together to meet and take key decisions on the issues related to women’s safety in Delhi, leading to the prevailing situation.”

The other STF members would be the divisional commissioner, revenue and transport commissioners, special commissioner of police (women safety), chairperson of the NDMC among others.