Swati Maliwal

Swati Maliwal (born 15 October 1984) is an Indian activist and politician. She is the current Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women. She is the youngest to hold the post. Before joining DCW, Swati Maliwal worked as the advisor to the Chief Minister of Delhi on public grievances.

Swati left her lucrative job at an MNC and joined an NGO called "Parivartan", where she worked as a volunteer for several years. She worked for the people in Bihar during the Kosi Floods. She was also an integral part of the RTI movement in the country and worked for several years trying to bring transparency in the ration PDS system in the capital. Swati was a core member of the Indian Against Corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal.

After the formation of the Arvind Kejriwal government in 2015, Swati Maliwal was appointed as the Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women on the merits of her long career in activism and social service. Ever since she has joined DCW, there has been a 700% increase in the work done by the commission. DCW handled more than 55,000 cases in a period of 3 years (2015–18), attended 235,000 calls on the 181 helpline. Swati believes that one can justify the post only if she works on the ground. In the year 2018, Swati did a 30-day work Satyagrah in which she worked 24*7 and used to sleep at the office after finishing her work. During the 30-day Satyagrah, DCW conducted various surprise inspections and fixed responsibilities of various officers who were found having a callous attitude towards their job.

Delhi Commission for Women under Swati Maliwal has conducted hundreds of successful rescue operations. DCW has cracked down on the GB Road nexus and rescued several women and children from the racket. Apart from this, Swati had also exposed the fake baba Virender dev who was allegedly involved in illegal activities in the garb of an ashram. After the expose, Swati got various death threats too but she refused to bow down to the threats.

In the year 2018, Swati launched the RapeRoko movement, which aimed at creating a massive level awareness about the situation of women safety in the country. The volunteers of this campaign collected 1 million signed letters from people all over the country and delivered the letters to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The letters demanded strong punishment for rapists. This campaign was supported by prominent personalities from all fields.