00:00Let's turn to another story and it's again the Supreme Court stepping in, this time five rape cases in five
00:06weeks in the national capital.
00:08Today the Supreme Court stepped in, taking suomoto cognizance of the recent Delhi rape cases.
00:14The Apex Court made scathing observations on the failure of what it said was law enforcement and administration.
00:22The Supreme Court said, living without fear is a fundamental right.
00:27Public spaces cannot become high-risk zones.
00:30The court, Farag, lax patrolling, said the recent cases point to a failure of law enforcement and administration.
00:38They also pointed out to how badly lit the roads of the country are.
00:42The court made a pain, said this was a painful parallel to the Nirbhaya case,
00:47calling for a detailed status report on actual functioning of various safety schemes,
00:53technology measures, ordering and audit of vulnerable areas in the national capital by the police.
01:00Now, all of this is coming against the backdrop of these cases of gang rape and sexual molestation.
01:08Just in the last week, from Kalkaji, the heart of Delhi, to Jammui in Bihar,
01:14horrific cases have put women's safety back in focus.
01:18The Supreme Court's scathing reality check, saying women have a fundamental right to live without fear
01:24and public spaces cannot become high-risk zones.
01:28But what does safety look like on the ground for the women of this country,
01:33particularly in our parks, where, remember, this horrific gang rape took place only last week?
01:40India Today took the question to the streets from Delhi to Lucknow, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
01:46This is what we found out.
01:48Take a look.
02:00The anger has been building for weeks.
02:03The fear has been building for longer.
02:06From Kalkaji to Jammui, horrific cases have once again put women's safety under the spotlight.
02:15And now, the Apex Court delivered a scathing reality check on Delhi's law-and-order machinery.
02:22Supreme Court, observing that the right to live without fear is a fundamental right,
02:28flagged lax patrolling and said that public places cannot become high-risk zones.
02:39But what does safety look like on the ground?
02:41India Today went to find out.
02:47In Delhi, women spoke of fear in public spaces, especially after dark.
02:53Look at over here.
02:54I can barely see a light.
02:57Actually, ask my cameraman.
02:58You can see that light.
02:59There's a light that exists, but the light is unfunctional.
03:03Now, these are questions that needs to be asked.
03:06That why do we need sad incidents?
03:10Why do we need a woman to be molested, to be raped, for our system to wake up?
03:19The conditions are eerily similar in Lucknow, where Samarth shows darkened pathways and how safety often depends on how late
03:28it is and how alone you are.
03:30Hardly you'll see any CCTV camera around this particular place because there is no space whatsoever for any camera.
03:39There might be some camera at that particular portion, but at this particular portion, there is no CCTV camera whatsoever.
03:49And in Kolkata's Meidan, a vast green space visited by hundreds every day, some women said after 8 or 9
03:57p.m. the equation changes.
03:59Concerns extend beyond parks to public transport and the journey home.
04:30No, no, no, I am not feeling safe in night or especially night and evening.
04:37The story is similar in Bengaluru.
04:40Do you think the parks here in Bengaluru are safe?
04:44I cannot say about every park, but I would say parks in general, I wouldn't say they are safe at
04:50night.
04:51Since, for example, in this park only, I am not sure there are CCTVs here.
04:55Even right now, if you can see, there is no much patrolling going on and the times are actually quite
05:00odd.
05:01It's 7 already and we are here by ourselves and there is no police van or anything you can see
05:06around.
05:09Across cities, women told us the same story.
05:13After dark, fear changes how they use public spaces.
05:17The question now is simple.
05:19How safe are our cities really?
05:22With Samad Sivastav, Apoorva Jaichandran and Anupam Mishra, Bureau Report, India Today.
