New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a series of reported sexual assault cases involving minors and women in the Delhi-NCR region and sought a response from the Delhi Police, stressing that public spaces cannot become unsafe due to inadequate patrolling or surveillance.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran took note of reports concerning the alleged rape of a 17-year-old at Aastha Kunj Park near Lady Shri Ram College, the alleged gangrape of a minor in Swaroop Nagar and the alleged sexual assault of another minor on a bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi.
Expressing concern over the recurrence of such incidents, the bench drew a comparison with the 2012 Nirbhaya case and questioned whether sufficient lessons had been learnt from it.
The court emphasised that the right to live with dignity and without violence forms part of the fundamental protections guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Taking note that the reported incidents occurred in different public settings, including a park, a road and a bus, the bench said areas such as parks, roads, buses, Metro stations and subways cannot be allowed to become high-risk zones because of inadequate policing or surveillance.
The bench also referred to reports that students of Lady Shri Ram College had previously raised complaints regarding sexual harassment in the vicinity of the institution. It observed that such complaints had not resulted in adequate measures to address security shortcomings, including through improved surveillance.
The court has sought a response from the Delhi Police on the issue, with the proceedings likely to examine measures required to improve safety and policing in public spaces across the national capital region.
