Delhi: Little has changed on nightmare stretch

TNN | Mar 20, 2020, 04.13 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The measures taken to ensure the safety of women in the capital since the rape of 23-year-old Nirbhaya look as dark as the route taken by the bus that day seven years ago. In all these years, little has been done to ensure that a woman feels safe walking alone on these roads. TOI retraced the course of the private bus that horrific December night in 2012 from Munirka to Ravidas Camp in RK Puram and found the stretch poorly lit and unmanned by police control room teams.

What has, however, increased at some places is the traffic. This helps because the vehicles light up the area with their headlights. But that’s still not enough to compensate for the missing and dysfunctional street lights on the 12-km stretch. Munirka resident Kajal said, “I have been living here for two decades and haven’t ventured out after 9pm ever. Why? Because I don’t feel safe. I don’t want to be the next Nirbhaya.”

Between Munirka bus stand and Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover leading to IGI Airport and back via Ravidas Camp there’s a conspicuous lack of road illumination and police security — two critical requirements for any woman on the road to feel safe at night. TOI traversed the route on Wednesday night and found dangers still lurk on the infamous stretch.

At 9.40pm on Outer Ring road where the Munirka bus stand is located, a board flashed the Women Helpline number. It seemed a good change from the numbing night when Nirbhaya and her friend got on the bus around a kilometre down the road. The new flyover was well illuminated by street lights and the bus stand too had lights. However, the road below the new and old RTR flyovers was isolated, with no police patrolling vans to be seen around. The market alongside was pitch dark too and could easily be a safe haven for criminals.

Around 6 km down towards NH8, nothing appeared to have changed in seven years. Half the street lamps skirting Shankar Vihar on the left were not functioning. The saving grace was the continuously moving traffic, the headlights of which comprised the ‘light generators’ on this stretch.

Further ahead, the first and the only police barricade had three cops loitering around in a dark corner. It was from here that the bus bearing Nirbhaya and her ravagers had turned towards Mahipalpur, opposite the airport approach road. The area is filled with hotels with neon boards and, therefore, was comparatively bright.

The bus had then taken a U-turn to get onto the other side of NH8. Not surprisingly, this road too was unlit because the street lamps again were not working. TOI followed the route taken by the bus and reached the Dwarka road, which was again devoid of police presence and proper illumination. This road didn’t have as much traffic as the Mahipalpur road did.

The bus then drove on NH-8 and soon after, the six convicts had dumped the brutalised Nirbhaya and her friend bleeding and almost naked. The vehicle then went towards Dwarka, took a U-turn and headed towards Outer Ring Road from where the men finally drove to their houses in Ravidas Camp. The approach to RK Puram Sector 3 was isolated and very dimly lit.

Seven years since the crime, Wednesday’s drive showed that street illumination and police presence continued to be problem areas on the route.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)