Five months after the December 16 gangrape incident, which saw a huge public outcry prompting police to come out with assurances that steps have been taken to ensure safety of women in the capital, a 19-year-old woman was allegedly abducted by three men in a car from Chirag Dilli in South Delhi and taken to Gurgaon, where she was reportedly gangraped.
The car in which she was abducted — around 10.30 pm on Wednesday — went through Malviya Nagar, crossed Saket and Mehrauli before taking the MG Road to Gurgaon.
Police as yet do not have the exact sequence of events and have said the woman has changed her statement several times.
After the December 16 gangrape incident, the Delhi Police Commissioner had ordered intensive night patrolling and police presence in all areas.
Integration of CCTV cameras — on road intersections, traffic junctions and along roads — was made a top priority project.
Police said they are presently working on a project to make the city safer for women, especially at night.
"At present, 24 market places and four border checkposts have been put under CCTV surveillance. In phase 2, another 28 market places and 10 border checkposts will be in secured by April. Efforts are on to put all major markets in New Delhi and South Delhi areas under CCTV surveillance. This will be completed in another six months," a police officer said.
With police concentrating on securing market places and border checkposts, sources said major arterial roads have gone unnoticed.
After the December 16 gangrape, an audit was conducted by Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) with help from the Delhi traffic police to identify the most vulnerable and unsafe parts of the city.
The study surveyed five areas — Outer Ring Road (Munirka-Mahipalpur), Dhaula Kuan cloverleaf, Dwarka sub-city, Nehru District Centre and Resettlement colony at Bhalswa — and found that most sexual assaults happen along deserted, unwatched places like flyovers and signal-free corridors, subways and overbridges, deserted parks, parking lots and gated communities.
"The Home Ministry always emphasise on the need to bring the capital under CCTV surveillance each time an untoward incident happens, but these projects get tied down by red tape," a police officer said on condition of annonymity.
Currently, the only cameras that have been installed on arterial roads are speed cameras or interceptors.
These cameras only capture those vehicles that flout traffic norms. If a car is speeding, the speed cameras will record the image of the numberplate. The other vehicles will go unnoticed.
"In cases like the present one, in which a particular vehicle needs to be identified, CCTV cameras with recording facility are required. The interceptors or even night-vision cameras will not capture the vehicle till it flouts a traffic norm," the officer said.
Ananya Bhardwaj : New Delhi, Fri Apr 19 2013, 01:08 hrs
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