Install CCTVs, Street Lights For Women’s Safety: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has proposed installation of CCTV cameras on roads, better street lighting and more public toilets in India's capital city, Business Standard reported. The move, the court hopes, will help check Delhi's soaring crime rate against women.

The court proposal came after the Delhi Police told the HC that there are around 118 unsafe zones in the city. The unsafe zones require a total of 587 CCTV cameras. However, acquiring them and installing them will take time

Addressing the issue of shortage of funds for getting CCTV cameras, a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and P S Teji said that women's safety is a burning issue and if the agencies cannot accumulate sufficient funds for safety measures, then the court will order that money be disbursed from the Nirbhaya and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan funds.

The bench asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain to take note of the issue. It has set December 4 as the next hearing date.

The Delhi Police’s report also carried the fact that west Delhi's Aman Vihar area is "statistically shown to be highly vulnerable to children going missing". Hence, the court has decided that the cameras are installed there on a priority basis as there have been cases children being kidnapped from the area for trafficking and slavery.

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Police’s counsel Rahul Mehra and advocate Tushar Sannu said that in the past two years, this area saw 389 cases of missing children. Of this, investigation is still going on for 99 children, including 71 girls. Apart from children, reports of 801 adults missing have also come from the same locality. Of this, probe is on for 414 people, including 206 women.

On the case of missing people, the court said that this mirrors the shoddy “state of affair” in the area. It has set up a special investigative team (SIT), headed by DCP Crime Joy Tirkey, to investigate the issue. The court wants to know if a gang is working against all the abductions. And if there is a gang, then it be "identified and dissolved".

The court also got to know from the local authorities of Aman Vihar that it has only one public toilet.

The court's action came on a habeas corpus petition filed by a ragpicker. He had sought the court’s directive to the police who have been unsuccessful in finding his two missing daughters. They went missing from Aman Vihar in April this year.

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