The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Delhi Police for conducting poor investigations in crimes against women in the Capital, while observing that fear of the law has declined among the perpetrators. The Court laid emphasis on adopting scientific methods of probe in the cases where women were the victims.
A Division Bench comprising Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul said an affidavit of the Delhi Police on 44 “red-flagged areas”, identified after a crime mapping exercise in the city, was not satisfactory. It directed the police to provide a more detailed and complete picture of offences against women in different parts of the Capital.
The crime mapping undertaken by the police earlier this year had analysed the figures of molestation, harassment and rape cases. The affidavit made a comparison of two sets of time periods comprising three-and-a-half months each.
The Court said the fresh affidavit should deal with the police stations of Mehrauli, Govindpuri, Hauz Khas and Safdarjung Enclave and state the measures adopted to control crime. The Bench was hearing a public interest writ petition moved by Nandita Dhar against eve-teasing incidents in the Capital.
Posting the matter for further hearing on October 15, the Court asked the police to address the points raised in a report of the Delhi State Legal Services Authority with regard to hotspots and reasons for increase in crimes in the red-flagged areas.
The Court observed that the measures launched by the police to curb crimes against women seemed to be ineffective, as the data had clearly shown an increase in these offences in most of the 44 areas.
The Bench also asked the police to improve their investigation techniques by strengthening the collection of evidence from the scenes of crime. The Delhi Police had submitted the affidavit in compliance with the Court’s direction during the previous hearing on September 17, when it had sought information on the impact of steps to control crimes against women.
