The Delhi Police has informed the Delhi High Court that the first phase of bring the capital under a CCTV network will begin in 44 areas identified as vulnerable “high crime zones”. The project is likely to begin in a month, an affidavit submitted to the court said. The Delhi Police and Delhi government, in two separate affidavits, have stated that various proposals to upgrade security and investigation arrangements in the city are “under consideration”. The affidavits were filed in a suo motu case being heard by the court on women’s safety after the 2012 December 16 gangrape incident.
The Delhi Police submitted to the court that the “high crime zones” were identified through a crime mapping exercise last year. Last April, police had identified 44 police stations in Delhi which had high incidence of crimes against women such as eve-teasing, molestation and rape. During the previous hearing in January, the court had pulled up police and the government for failing to take steps to install CCTV cameras, recruit police personnel, and take other proposed steps to reduce crimes against women.
The court had even commented that the government had installed cameras for the visiting US president but “failed to act fast for its own citizens”. “All Deputy Commissioners of Police, districts/units were directed to identify vulnerable locations for installation of CCTV cameras keeping in mind the crime mapping study which has already been done by the Delhi Police,” the affidavit said, adding that the DCPs would send proposals for the locations of the cameras, which will then be “surveyed through proper government agencies with regard to the technical support”.
