Once upon a time, Delhi’s Commission for Women was regarded as a toothless, comatose body that few took seriously. Until Swati Maliwal took charge. She made it a campaigning powerhouse that challenged police policy, altered legislation and helped bring thousands more sexual assault cases to court andrapists to justice.
During her two terms in office, Maliwal, 39, went on hunger strike to demand police action against sexual harassment and rape, which resulted in the government increasing sentencing. She walked Delhi’s streets at 3am to experience how a woman feels out alone; and went on police brothel raids, which led to the release of women and girls, who were given vocational training. She also issued a summons against the Delhi police commissioner when he refused to share data on crime rates.
This week she embarks on a new role, taking a seat in the upper house of India’s parliament. It’s a remarkable rise for a woman from what she calls “a dysfunctional family”.
“My father abused me physically and sexually until my mother left him,” says Maliwal, from her Delhi home. “She and I went through a lot of pain. As a little girl, what kept me going was the idea of growing up and helping others.”
Commissions were established in every Indian state in the 1990s to improve the status of women. They cannot make policy but can make recommendations to government, have the power to question civil servants and police, and help women file and fight court cases of abuse and discrimination.
Under Maliwal’s eight-year leadership, the Delhi branch handled 170,000 complaints of rape, dowry violence, “honour” killings and trafficking – a more than eightfold increase on the previous eight years, during which just 20,000 complaints were registered.
The commission now receives up to 4,000 calls a day to its helpline, which is staffed by more than 100 counsellors, up from 20 eight years ago. The number of lawyers working with the commission has increased from five to 70.
Taking on the authorities has never fazed Maliwal, who resigned her post on 5 January after serving the maximum two terms. She has been fighting abuse since joining a women’s rights NGO after university rather than take a job with a software giant that could have brought her financial security.
“I have received rape threats, death threats. I’ve been trolled, called a woman who hates men, who is too opinionated, who should be ashamed of herself,” she says.
She was called “a disloyal daughter” when she revealed her father’s abuse and vilified when she spoke about her divorce, calling her marriage “toxic”. She decided neither to block the trolls nor take them on.
“If you engage with a pig, he is going to enjoy it and you are going to get dirty. So I don’t engage, because I’m not going to let my self-worth be determined by them,” she says. “I’m a great believer in speaking out, because it gives other women the courage to open up, too.”
Her biggest frustration in the job was knowing the government was not supporting her. She says: “I wanted to meet the home minister so that we could coordinate action by having monthly meetings to understand what the issues are, what systems we need and individual cases. But I was never granted one.”
Maliwal says her biggest achievement is leaving the commission with the systems, staff and resources in place to handle its growing caseload. She says: “Proper operating procedures have been set up to ensure that no woman’s complaint goes unattended.”
Despite the problems facing Indian women, Maliwal is convinced there has been progress. She says: “Yes, patriarchy is entrenched and yes, there is violence. But Indian women are raising their voices and becoming stronger. That makes me confident about the future.”
Maliwal is now taking her fight for women’s rights to a national level after being elected as a representative of the Aam Aadmi Party in the upper house of the Indian parliament.
Politics, she says, allows her to amplify her voice beyond Delhi to all India. Maliwal believes parliament has overlooked vital issues concerning women, and that her experience will bring a useful perspective to debates.
“Having been an activist and headed the commission, now, as an MP, my aim is to be the unwavering advocate of women’s issues in parliament,” she says. “Of course, it will bring abuse. I know that. But it won’t stop me.”
