The Supreme Court on Monday (September 28, 2026) took suo motu cognisance of a spate of sexual assault incidents against minors and women in the Delhi-National Capital Region, seeking a response from the Delhi police, and observing that public spaces, including parks, buses and Metro stations, cannot be allowed to become “zones of high risk” because of “lax patrolling and other preventable administrative deficiencies”.

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran took note of several recent cases of sexual violence reported in the national capital, including the rape of a 17-year-old at Astha Kunj park near Lady Shri Ram College, the gang-rape of a minor at Swaroop Nagar, and the sexual assault of another minor inside a bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi.

“These incidents, considered alongside recent reports of sexual offences across Delhi-NCR, starkly underline the failure of law enforcement and public administration authorities to guarantee basic public safety. The right to live with dignity, free from the fear of violence, is an intrinsic facet of the fundamental guarantee of life and personal liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the Bench said.

The Bench further observed that public spaces, including roads, buses, Metro stations, footbridges and subways, cannot be permitted to become “zones of high risk” because of inadequate illumination, poor surveillance, lax patrolling, and other preventable administrative deficiencies.