The Delhi High court on Wednesday expressed its displeasure over the city government and the civic bodies “passing the buck” on installation of street lights in Aman Vihar, which is notorious for disappearance of people, particularly children.
Jurisdiction fight
A Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice P.S. Teji was surprised to learn that despite the assurances given to the court, the installation of street lights had not been completed and the authorities were fighting over the jurisdiction.
The court directed the Chief Secretary to call a meeting of the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (DSSIDC), the municipal corporation, the Delhi police and other agencies within 10 days.
A status report by Delhi Police had revealed that between 2015 and 2017 a total 389 cases of missing children were reported at Aman Vihar police station. Out of these, 209 cases were of missing minor girls and 180 cases were of missing of minor boys. The report said the police were able to trace 290 victims.
Adults also missing
During the same period, a total 801 adults had been reported missing from the area, out of which 401 were women and 400 were men. Only 387 persons have been traced so far, the report said.
The Delhi High Court directed the Chief Secretary to file a status report within two weeks and fixed the next date of hearing to January 31.
Ragpicker’s plea
The court’s direction come while hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by a ragpicker, Aasha, whose two minor daughters aged 10 and 8 years are missing from Aman Vihar since April 14 last year.
The court had noted that the “same reflects the extremely poor state of affairs in this regard”.
It had also asked the government to undertake on priority the installation of CCTV cameras in Aman Vihar considering the “alarming situation prevailing” in the area.
