Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday called for a movement against female foeticide, dowry and unnecessary expenses during marriages and vowed to the support of his government for such campaigns.
“There is a need to launch a movement against female foeticide, dowry and unnecessary expenses during marriages as these three issues force poor parents to take loans, even commit suicide, and are a barrier to ensuring gender equality in society. This campaign has to be taken to every house, school and college. A dialogue has to be started with people on these issues and it has to be made successful like the odd-even policy. You have to formulate a programme and the Delhi government will back such a movement,” Mr Kejriwal said on the occasion of Women’s Day during an event organised by the Delhi Commission for Women.
He also stressed on the need for more convictions in cases of crimes against women, and hoped everyone would work with the new police commissioner Alok Kumar Verma.
Mr Kejriwal said the upcoming Delhi Budget will have allocations for installation of CCTV cameras and setting up of Mahila Suraksha Dals in the capital to make it safer for women and girls.
“But I would say that just doing these won’t solve the problem. Every section of the society has to come together to ensure that women are safe and secure in the capital city. Women should be able to move freely at any time in the day or night,” he said.
Referring to the Delhi police’s 2014 data, according to which 11,209 FIRs for crimes against women were lodged, and only nine accused were convicted, Mr Kejriwal said, “There is no fear among rapists. Rapists feel immune because of low convictions. Increase in conviction rate will send a clear message. We can all work with the new police commissioner,” he said.
The chief minister felicitated some persons with the DCW Achievement Awards. DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal reiterated the demand for setting up a high-level committee on women’s safety comprising lieutenant-governor, Union home minister, Delhi chief minister and others to fix accountability of the police.
Ms Maliwal expressed her disappointment over thana (police station)-level committees not been set up for the last one year despite the issue being raised regularly with the L-G.
“The proposed thana-level committees have a huge mandate to promote interaction between the police and public and provide a forum for the public to raise concerns regarding law and order and find constructive solutions to the problems faced by the community,” she said.
Ms Maliwal also stressed on the need to ensure that resources of the Delhi police are adequately strengthened, saying the ultimate sufferer of shortage of police are women and girls.
