he Delhi government’s advisory body, Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), has drafted a Bill, with the objective to implement the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee on women safety, but it actually aims to strengthen the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

The Bill has suggested more administrative and judicial powers to the DCW at par with a Civil Court.

“The DDC team after consultation with all stakeholders has drafted this Bill. We have incorporated all the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee report,” DDC vice-chairperson Ashish Khetan said.

According to DDC officials, the Bill proposes to provide a comprehensive framework to women residing in Delhi to exercise their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The DDC has proposed to give more teeth to the DCW by giving additional administrative and judicial powers. It has also proposed that the DCW will work as a single window in women-related matter. “It plans to expand the ambit of the DCW to take penal action to secure women’s access to the rights, and to award compensation in case of violation of rights and gross negligence on the part of the State.”.

“It is easy to frame a law but the government could not implement it. In the draft Bill, we have identified 29 such acts for women security which could not be implemented properly, so we will have a public consultation on implementation of these,” Mr. Khetan said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the special Delhi Assembly session on Monday had talked about the Bill. The DDC will take suggestions on the Bill online and accordingly, tweak it.

It plans to expand the ambit

of DCW to take penal action

to secure women’s access

to the rights