Supreme Court directs Delhi Police to step up patrolling, verify public transport staff

The Supreme Court has directed Delhi Police and the city administration to immediately strengthen beat patrolling, particularly around educational institutions, and strictly verify drivers and assistants working in public transport.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran issued the directions on October 5 while hearing the suo motu case, In Re: Recent Rape Incidents in Delhi NCR. The court also directed authorities to identify and take action against unauthorised liquor shops and establishments serving liquor without required permissions.

The bench stressed that crime prevention requires visible policing, effective surveillance and prompt action on reported deficiencies. It called for real-time monitoring of police patrols and CCTV infrastructure through dedicated control rooms or “war rooms”, with information from these centres linked to an effective field-response mechanism.

The court directed the Delhi Police Commissioner and Delhi government's Chief Secretary to submit a joint report on the number and coverage of such control rooms and the protocols for emergency coordination and deployment.

It also ordered strict verification of personnel working on government and private buses, as well as cabs, taxis and autorickshaws, including those linked to app-based aggregators such as Ola, Uber and Rapido. Only registered and verified personnel should be allowed to operate these vehicles, with their names and photographs displayed for passengers.

The court further directed authorities to establish mechanisms for citizen complaints, conduct regular public-engagement meetings and strengthen preventive-policing training.

The directions come amid the court's ongoing examination of recent sexual offences in Delhi-NCR and its concerns over the safety of women and children in public spaces.

with inputs from PTI