Delhi Park Gangrape Exposes Dire Lighting and Safety Gaps
Three men allegedly posing as policemen gang-raped a teenage girl in a poorly lit South Delhi park; all have been arrested as students protest safety lapses.
A sprawling public park in South Delhi that is bustling by day becomes a dark, isolated stretch after sunset, a spot-check has found, days after a teenage girl was allegedly gang-raped there.
The incident occurred on Monday evening at Aastha Kunj Park in Kalkaji, around 7 pm, when the girl and her male friend were present. According to police, three men posing as policemen accosted the teenager and her friend, threatened the boy and sexually assaulted the girl over roughly 40 minutes before leaving. All three accused have since been arrested.
The park, spread over about 150 acres, is located in a densely populated and prominent part of the capital. The Lotus Temple is about 200 metres away, the Nehru Place market is nearby, and the ISKCON temple and Lady Shri Ram College for Women are in the vicinity.
Yet, as darkness falls, much of the park becomes nearly invisible. A spot-check found that lighting is grossly inadequate across large stretches, with some areas in almost complete darkness. The only prominent light visible from parts of the park appeared to come from the Lotus Temple, around 200 metres away. The park has eight gates, at least four of which are open to the public at any given time, allowing people to enter and leave freely.
The lack of basic lighting and visible security has raised serious concerns about safety after sunset in a park frequented by local residents and students.
The incident has also triggered unease at Lady Shri Ram College. On Wednesday, students held a protest and solidarity march, demanding safer streets and highlighting inadequate police patrolling, poor lighting and security lapses around the campus. The protest followed the college's decision to shift classes online a day earlier, after an encounter involving one of the accused near the college's back gate.
One of the accused, Asif, was arrested after a police encounter near the LSR gate a day after the alleged gangrape. The other two, Hemant and Mukesh, were apprehended from Faridabad.
For students and residents around Aastha Kunj, the arrests have not dispelled broader worries: how a large public park in the middle of South Delhi can become so dark and isolated after sunset, and how many people pass through its gates each evening unaware of what might await them.