Supreme Court tells Delhi Police to create fear among goons to prevent crimes against women

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Delhi Police to create "fright" and "fear" in the minds of goons and anti-social elements prone to committing crimes against women, stressing that preventing an offence must be the primary objective of policing rather than merely apprehending an accused after the crime.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, hearing a suo motu case on recent rape incidents in Delhi-NCR, said there was a perception that women were not safe in the national capital, particularly in vulnerable pockets. "We have to work together. We must ensure that every woman in Delhi-NCR should feel safe even at 11 pm, whether travelling on the roads or the metro," it said.

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"What is important is to prevent a crime, not what you do after a crime is committed," the bench said, telling the police that it had to move beyond simply arresting offenders after an incident. The bench said the police should not hesitate to be "a little more strict" or "a little more harsh" against those prone to committing such offences and must create enough fear among potential offenders to deter them. "Unless you create such fright in the minds of the criminals 'ki ab kuch kiya toh mar jayengey' (if we commit such crimes, we will die), you will not be able to prevent such crimes," the court observed.

The bench also made an emotional appeal to the police officers handling the issue, saying: "Every girl who is molested is our sister, our mother." It described women's safety as a "huge challenge" for the Delhi Police and urged its officers to "rise to the occasion" and not allow such incidents to happen merely because of "some shortcoming here or there".

"In a country like India, merely putting things on paper is not enough. You need to get into action," SC said, while noting that the police had to perform their duty even if some people raised objections invoking Article 21. The bench asked the Delhi Police to strengthen surveillance and patrolling at vulnerable locations, including parks, bus stops, metro and railway stations and areas around schools and colleges, particularly North and South Campus.

It also questioned the police about the effectiveness of CCTV cameras installed at vulnerable locations. The bench said merely installing cameras would not help unless there was continuous monitoring and immediate intervention.

"There has to be a cell. A 24-hour cell, which keeps monitoring what is happening," justice Pardiwala said, suggesting a centralised monitoring mechanism for vulnerable areas. The court said even if cameras could not cover entire parks, entry and exit points should be monitored and suspicious movements acted upon immediately.

Referring to the alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park, SC asked whether the police had acted on warnings about the alleged offenders and sought information about the functioning of CCTV cameras, lighting and deployment of security personnel at the park.

The bench asked the police to track suspects through the national database of sexual offenders and focus on areas around colleges where students may be vulnerable to harassment. "There are hooligans who keep harassing girl students," the court said, referring to the presence of unauthorised eateries across Delhi where, it was told, anti-social elements gather and liquor is consumed.

"People should not run away from you. They should come forward to meet you, to talk to you," justice Pardiwala said, adding that the police response must inspire confidence among citizens that they were safe.

The court warned that the forthcoming festivals could see an increase in the activities of "goons", "miscreants" and "anti-social elements", asking the police to remain particularly vigilant during the period.