India’s capital has always been under fire when it comes to ensuring the safety of women.
According to reports, Delhi High Court has directed the AAP government and Delhi Police to prepare an action plan for making Delhi ‘crime-free for women.’
A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Jyoti Singh said,
In Mumbai, women can walk freely in night, why can’t it happen in Delhi. Where are we going wrong? We have the best resources and officers in Delhi, where are things going wrong. We find no reason as to why women should not feel free to travel in Delhi in day much less in night.
A proposition to hold a meeting by the chief secretary with the stakeholders was also initiated by the bench. They also pointed out that over Rs 3,000 crore is lying unused in the Nirbhaya Fund, which was established in 2013 after the rape and murder of the student in December 2012 and was not used.
So much in Nirbhaya Fund is lying unused. Prevention is better than cure. Why can’t some of this be used for installing CCTVs and streetlights as it will also fulfil the objective of creating the fund.
A special task force will be formed and police officials be given motorcycles so that they can access the dark corners of the locality.
According to us, a PCR van should have one officer. In any case, their eyes are not outside, its inside. In summers its hot, so they are sitting inside and in winters its cold, so they are inside. By deploying only one person in a PCR van, we will save four officials so there is no crunch in manpower.
Advocate Meera Bhatia, who was appointed amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter asked the Public Works Department (PWD) to ensure that all street lights are functional. If this fails then the officer concerned the particular area will be held liable and strict actions will be taken against him.
Reportedly, Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra who is also representing Delhi Police agreed with the court’s suggestion and has mentioned that the 300 crore fund is for prevention and not for just post crime utilization.