New Delhi: On the 11th anniversary of the "Nirbhaya incident", the Delhi Commission for Women conducted an inspection and issued a notice to the city government over "missing streetlights" at the Lalita Park bus stand and several other places across the national capital, the women's panel chief Swati Maliwal said on Saturday.
The DCW chief said nothing has changed in the past decade and crimes against women in Delhi. A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as "Nirbhaya (fearless one), was raped and assaulted by six men inside a bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, before being thrown out of the moving vehicle. The victim died from her injuries on December 29 in Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she was flown by air ambulance.
Swati Maliwal took to his verified X handle and wrote, "After receiving complaints, a surprise inspection was conducted at Lalita Park bus stand and many other places last evening (Friday). During inspection, it was found that there was complete darkness at and near many bus stands. Very unsafe for women," Maliwal said in a post on X. "Issuing notice to Delhi government department in this regard."
While speaking to the media, she highlighted the horrifying rape episode, "A tragic incident happened with Nirbhaya in 2012 when she was gang-raped. That girl died in agony." Maliwal further continued, "At the time of the incident, people came out onto the streets to seek change. But despite years after that tragedy, we stand at the same place. Crimes against women are increasing day by day. Nothing will change until the criminals are scared that the system would not spare them for such crimes."
Meanwhile, the DCW claimed, "Every December 16, politicians talk big about bringing change but (those are) all in vain." Subsequently, she criticised about its punishment procedure, "There is no fear of punishment in those who commit such crimes. There are instances where even politicians were seen posing with such criminals. What happened in the sexual harassment case of the women wrestlers of our country? (Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is roaming free despite having serious allegations against him."
However, Delhi recorded the highest number of crimes with 1,204 rape cases against women among the 19 metropolitan cities in India in 2022, according to the latest NCRB report. It was also reported that 129 dowry death cases and 3,909 kidnappings or abductions of women in the same year.
Meanwhile, in 2018, Maliwal had gone on a hunger strike to demand the death penalty for those convicted of raping minors and setting up fast-track courts across the country to try sexual assault cases, among others. The following year, Maliwal sat on another hunger strike and also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding a time-bound redress of mercy petitions by rape convicts sentenced to death and an increase in police resources.
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