New Delhi – India’s Supreme Court today ordered the government to respond to a petition saying women’s safety in the capital was not protected.
A news report said the petition was filed amid public outrage following the rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi in December.
Six suspects in the case are facing charges separately.
“Women are still unsafe in Delhi,” Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra were quoted as saying by broadcaster NDTV.
The petition called for private buses to lose their operating licences for violating regulations, and condemned the tests currently conducted on rape victims as abusing the dignity of women.
The bus boarded by the victim of December’s attack was run by a private operator who was earlier arrested for supplying forged documents for its registration, and had also been charged with several traffic violations, but was never impounded, NDTV reported.
It had illegal tinted windows and curtains, but passed a series of police checkpoints without being pulled over while the student was attacked inside, the report said.
“There are enough tough laws in this country, but there is a need for strict implementation and enforcement by authorities,” petitioner Nipun Saxena told reporters.
