The Supreme Courton Monday took suo motu cognizance of recent cases of rape and sexual assault in Delhi-NCR, expressing concern over recurring incidents and the need to fix accountability for failures in law enforcement and public administration. The matter was taken up by a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran.

The Court referred to recent incidents, including the gangrape and murder of a teenage girl in Swarup Nagar and the alleged sexual assault of a minor inside a moving sleeper bus, which travelled around 47 kilometres from Greater Noida to Delhi without being intercepted by police. The Bench said the incidents raised “painful parallels” with the 2012 Nirbhaya case and questioned whether law-enforcement mechanisms had made meaningful progress since then.

The Court observed that the recent incidents across Delhi-NCR “starkly underline a systematic failure” on the part of law-enforcement and public administrative authorities to guarantee basic public safety. It emphasised that the right to live with dignity and without fear of violence forms part of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Bench further said that public spaces such as parks, roads, buses, metro stations, subways and footbridges cannot become high-risk zones because of inadequate lighting, surveillance, patrolling or other preventable administrative deficiencies.

The Court also criticised responses limited to expressions of concern or solidarity by public authorities and elected representatives, stressing that such statements must be accompanied by measurable action and accountability.