The Supreme Court on Monday, 28 September, took suo motu cognisance of a spate of sexual assault cases against women and minors in Delhi-NCR, flagging a systematic failure to keep public spaces safe.

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran took note of recent cases, including the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at Astha Kunj park near Lady Shri Ram College, the alleged gang rape of a minor at Swaroop Nagar, and the alleged sexual assault of a minor inside a bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi.

The court sought a response from the Delhi Police. It observed that parks, roads, buses, Metro stations and subways cannot be allowed to become “zones of high risk” because of lax patrolling, poor lighting and weak surveillance.

Drawing what it called a painful parallel to the 2012 Nirbhaya case, the bench said the right to live with dignity, free from the fear of violence, is part of Article 21. “Expressing solidarity is not a solution to this social evil,” the bench said, calling for measurable accountability from the authorities.