When three rape cases, including one in which a young woman was allegedly raped and murdered, surface in the national capital within weeks, the story is not merely about crime statistics. It is about something more fundamental: whether women can exercise their most basic freedoms—the freedom to move, to work, to study, to travel, to socialise and simply to occupy public space without fear.
That the incidents occurred in Delhi, the national capital, makes the question even more stark. What does the constitutional guarantee of freedom of movement mean if women cannot safely use a road, a park, a bus or the Metro after dark?
It was against this disturbing backdrop that the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of recent rape and sexual-assault cases in Delhi-NCR in In Re: Recent Rape Incidents in Delhi NCR. In its September 28 order, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran went beyond the individual crimes to examine what it described as broader institutional and systemic failures.
The cases before the Court included the alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old at Aastha Kunj Park, the alleged gangrape and murder of a teenage girl in northwest Delhi, and the alleged sexual assault of a minor inside a moving sleeper bus that travelled nearly 47 km from Greater Noida to Kashmere Gate.
The bus case carries an especially painful echo. The Court drew a parallel with the December 16, 2012, Nirbhaya case, asking whether law-enforcement mechanisms had made meaningful progress in the intervening years.
But perhaps the most disturbing evidence lies not in the courtroom, but on the ground.
A CITY OF DARK CORNERS
An Indian Express ground assessment of Delhi’s vulnerable parks found glaring gaps in basic safety infrastructure. At Aastha Kunj, the portion where the alleged gangrape occurred had no CCTV coverage, while several cameras at the park gates were non-functional. The park itself is spread over 142 acres—an enormous public space where darkness can quickly become a security vulnerability.
In the Hauz Rani forest area, there was no CCTV coverage at all, prompting police to seek 32 cameras under the Safe City project. Even after lights were restored following the incident, only about 70 per cent were functioning, while overgrown foliage further obstructed illumination.
At Jamun Wala Park near Hauz Rani Idgah, there were neither CCTV cameras nor lights. At Bonta Park, police had three cameras, but sought five more. At Qudsia Bagh, two cameras were installed and seven more sought, while 10 additional lights were requested.
These are not technological shortcomings alone. They determine who can safely occupy public space.
The Supreme Court put the issue in constitutional terms: the right to live with dignity, free from fear of violence, is intrinsic to Article 21. Public spaces—parks, roads, buses, Metro stations, subways and footbridges—cannot become “zones of high risk” because of inadequate lighting, poor surveillance, lax patrolling or other preventable administrative deficiencies.
This must also be read with Article 19(1)(d), which guarantees every citizen the right to move freely throughout India.
The Constitution does not say that this freedom ends at sunset.
SAFETY CANNOT MEAN CONFINEMENT
For decades, the Supreme Court has progressively moved away from viewing women merely as persons requiring protection towards recognising them as equal citizens entitled to autonomy and freedom.
In Vishaka vs State of Rajasthan, the Court recognised sexual harassment as a violation of fundamental rights, including equality and life and liberty. In Anuj Garg vs Hotel Association of India, it rejected the paternalistic idea that women’s vulnerability should be addressed by restricting their freedom. The Court made the larger point that empowerment, rather than curbs on women’s liberty, is the constitutionally appropriate response.
That principle is directly relevant to Delhi.
If a woman is told not to walk through a park after dark, not to travel alone, not to take public transport late at night or not to use an isolated road, the burden of State failure is quietly transferred to her.
The State cannot protect women’s freedom by shrinking it.
A city cannot be considered genuinely accessible to women if its public spaces are formally open, but practically unusable after dark.
PREVENTION, NOT MERELY PUNISHMENT
The Supreme Court’s interim directions recognise this distinction.
The Delhi Police Commissioner has been asked to constitute dedicated teams in every police district, headed by an officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police, to survey vulnerable areas and prepare district-wise vulnerability maps. Police stations are to coordinate across boundaries. Public parks and vulnerable locations are to receive appropriate patrolling and security arrangements, while lighting and CCTV audits are to be carried out within four weeks.
The Court has also asked authorities to report on existing mechanisms such as the National Database on Sexual Offenders, Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences, Mission Shakti, emergency number 112, Women Helpline 181, Safe City projects and Women Help Desks—not merely whether they exist on paper, but whether they function, whom they cover, how many complaints they handle and what their response times are.
On October 5, the Supreme Court bench sharpened the point further, asking Delhi Police to establish a 24-hour monitoring cell for vulnerable areas and stressing that the priority must be preventing crime rather than merely arresting the accused afterwards. The bench also stressed the need to ensure that women feel safe even while travelling late at night.
That is perhaps the most consequential aspect of the proceedings.
The question is not simply: How efficiently does the State investigate rape? It is: What did the State do to prevent a foreseeable vulnerability from becoming a crime?
The Aastha Kunj episode makes that question particularly uncomfortable. The Supreme Court noted that there had been earlier complaints of recurring sexual harassment from students of nearby Lady Shri Ram College for Women. Those complaints, the Court said, failed to become a “wake-up call” for enhanced patrolling and vigilance before another woman became a victim.
The bus case raises another set of questions. According to the police charge sheet reported by The Indian Express, the vehicle had 11 pending traffic challans, including seven issued in July; the two men accused of the assault had allegedly been hired without police verification; and the bus’s CCTV camera was non-functional.
These are not merely post-crime details. They are potential points at which prevention could have intervened.
WHO OWNS THE NIGHT?
The Supreme Court’s earlier judgments on women’s rights point towards one clear constitutional principle: women cannot be made safer by making them less free.
In Suchita Srivastava vs Chandigarh Administration, the Court recognised women’s autonomy, privacy and bodily integrity as facets of personal liberty under Article 21. In Aparna Bhat vs State of Madhya Pradesh, it warned the judiciary against gender stereotypes in sexual-offence cases.
The Delhi proceedings now take that constitutional idea into the physical geography of the city.
A woman should be able to walk home alone at 11 pm and beyond. She should be able to take the Metro after work. She should be able to wait for a bus, cross a park or walk along a road without first calculating whether darkness has made her a potential victim.
Public space is not a male entitlement. Darkness cannot become a gendered curfew.
Senior Advocate Liz Mathew, appointed amicus curiae in the case, will assist the Court as it examines these larger questions. The Delhi High Court has also been asked to ensure that the cases before the Supreme Court are assigned to designated fast track special courts and that trials are concluded expeditiously, preferably within a year.
But swift justice after a crime cannot substitute for prevention before it.
The real test of a safe Delhi will, therefore, not be another statement of concern, another assurance after another assault or another arrest. It will be whether the State can create a city in which women do not have to surrender the night.
The Constitution gives women the right to move freely. The State must ensure that darkness does not quietly take that right away.
—The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, lawyer and trained mediator
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