The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a series of recent rape and sexual assault cases reported in Delhi-NCR. The bench comprised Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran.
The bench directed the Supreme Court Registry to register a suo motu public interest litigation concerning the issue and list it for hearing. The Court's intervention came amid reports of several recent sexual offences involving minors and women in the national capital and surrounding areas.
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The Supreme Court has raised serious concerns over repeated reports of sexual offences in Delhi-NCR, questioning whether law-enforcement agencies and existing public-safety measures are doing enough to protect people in public spaces.
A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said places such as roads, parks, buses, metro stations, subways and footbridges cannot become high-risk areas because of poor lighting, inadequate surveillance or other administrative gaps, LiveLaw reported.
The bench also said those responsible for preventing such incidents must be held accountable. Justice Pardiwala said the recent cases raised questions about whether there had been any meaningful improvement in law enforcement since the 2012 Nirbhaya case.
“one cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012,” Justice Pardiwala said, referring in particular to a recent alleged gang rape inside a moving bus.
The 2012 Nirbhaya case involved the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in Delhi. The case triggered widespread protests and led to major changes in India's laws dealing with sexual offences.
Cases before the court
Among the incidents that raised the court's concern was the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl at Astha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir in southeast Delhi on September 21.
According to reports, the teenager had gone to Kalkaji Mandir with a male friend before entering the nearby park. Three men allegedly approached them while posing as police officers and threatened them before taking the girl to a secluded area, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted.
Police arrested one of the accused, identified as Asif, following an alleged exchange of fire. Police said Asif fired at officers while they were trying to arrest him, following which he was shot in the leg when police returned fire. The other two accused, identified as Hemant and his younger brother Mukesh, were also arrested.
The Supreme Court also referred to the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl inside a moving sleeper bus on August 4.
According to The Times of India, the girl, who was from Uttar Pradesh, had reportedly been stranded near Pari Chowk in Greater Noida after getting off at the wrong stop amid heavy rain and poor visibility. She allegedly signalled an apparently empty sleeper bus for help and was allowed inside by the driver and conductor.
The two men, identified as Kuldeep and Sandeep, allegedly sexually assaulted her after the bus began moving and threatened her when she resisted. The bus travelled around 47 kilometres towards Delhi before reaching Kashmere Gate, where the girl was allegedly abandoned.
Court questions institutional response
The bench also questioned the response of authorities after such incidents, saying public statements expressing concern or solidarity do not address the larger issue of accountability.
“Expressing solidarity is not a solution to this social evil,” the court said.
The proceedings are not limited to the prosecution of individual accused persons. The court's observations have also focused on preventive measures, including surveillance, lighting, patrolling and other public-safety infrastructure.
Bar & Bench reported that at least 13 cases of sexual assault had been reported in Delhi during September alone, adding to the court's concerns about public safety in the national capital region.
The Supreme Court has directed that a suo motu case be registered and listed the matter for further consideration. The proceedings are at an initial stage, and the court's observations do not amount to final findings on the guilt or liability of anyone involved in the underlying criminal cases.
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