Politicians and those in the administration know that public memory is fickle and people tend to forget easily. This adage fits the bill for the political leadership and the administration, including police in the wake of tall promises made to the people of the national Capital to a reoccurrence of incidents like Nirbhaya gangrape. The then Delhi Chief Minister, lieutenant Governor and the Delhi Police top brass had promised the moon to augment the policing especially during nights but the situation remains the same even today.
In the aftermath of dastardly gangrape of 23-year-old para-medical student in a moving bus, then lieutenant Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna had directed the Delhi Police to deploy police personnel at 282 selected bus stands in the city. The lt-Governor had also asked for CCTV coverage and a proactive traffic police to ensure that vehicles are not allowed to park near bus stops.
lt Governor’s move came in the wake of growing lawlessness on city roads. The presence of local police at all the bus stops of the national Capital during peak morning and evening hours was planned to keep the eve-teasers, hoodlums, pick-pockets and ruffians under check. The move was to prevent anti-social elements from boarding the buses.
According to a survey done by Delhi Police post Nirbhaya incident, there were 800 bus stops in the city. However, 282 bus stops were earmarked for local police deployment during specific hours. All the Traffic Police ranges were surveyed at length the bus stands were identified. lT-Governor's emphasis wass to cover bus stands of Delhi University's North Campus, South Campus, all the colleges, schools, hospitals and important addresses in the national Capital.
The idea was to ensure the safety and security of the commuters, especially the young students who take buses from the various buses stands to go to their respective places of work. Many students too use city buses to reach their schools. There are senior citizens who commute via city buses during peak hours. It was also noticed that petty criminals such as bag lifters and pick pockets target people during the peak hours. The lt Governor had then directed Delhi Police top brass to deploy one constable from the local police station and a Traffic Police constable. local Police constable's brief is to check the passengers that board the buses and also keep an eye on any suspicious movement.
The Traffic Police constable was to ensure that motorists are not allowed to park their vehicles near the bus stands and the auto-rickshaws are also not allowed to wait for passengers at the bus stands.
The bus stands that were identified for the deployment of local and traffic police personnel are spread over in five traffic ranges. local Police deployment in the Central Traffic Police Range was to be on 25 bus stands, 30 in Northern Range, 82 in Southern Range, 74 in Western Range and 71 in Eastern Range. Similarly, Traffic Police was to be deployed in 19 bus stands of Central range, 34 in Southern Range, 8 in Northern Range, 21 in Western Range and 14 in the Eastern range.
The process to bring all the city bus stands under electronic surveillance was set in motion to cover all the 800 odd bus stops under the coverage of CCTV cameras.
A survey of the city bus stands by The Pioneer was revealing. Not even a single CCTV camera could be seen on any of these bus stands and the same applies to buses too where one cannot find a uniformed personnel.
Sheila Dikshit, then Chief Minister of Delhi said: “Capital’s law and order should be handed over to the Delhi government while the Centre can look after the security of VIPs. The Chief Minister said protecting VIPs could not be an excuse to neglect the security of people and suspending a few policemen in the gang-rape case was not enough”.
Arvind Kejriwal, then activist and colleague of Anna Hazare said: "635 rapes regd in delhi during 2012. Anyone punished so farIJ NoIJ Doesn't it encourage such crimesIJ Each rape case shud be decided in 1 month."
Kiran Bedi, former police official said: “Two practices which can compel sensitisation in governance r mandatory weekly commute in public transport field visits to see+feel directly!”