The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu note of recent sexual assault cases in Delhi-NCR. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran registered a public interest case on its own.

The court cited the gang-rape of a 17-year-old at Aastha Kunj park near Lady Shri Ram College on September 21. It also cited the gang-rape and murder of a teenage girl in Swaroop Nagar and the sexual assault of a minor in the capital region.

The bench sought responses from the Delhi Police and the city administrators. It said public spaces must not become zones of high risk for women.

The court spoke of painful parallels with the 2012 Nirbhaya case. It said the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution was at stake.

The judges made it clear that the case is not about fixing guilt in any one incident. It is about the failure of institutions to keep women safe.