Dwarka, not really a safe sub-city

Ladies and gentlemen, next time you decide to visit Dwarka, make sure you are jewellery-free, well equipped with everything that ensures your safety, because the zone you are entering has roads so isolated, murky and shadowy, with little sign of life around that they provide an absolutely fertile environment for crime.

Despite large deserted plots covered with thick foliage and empty spaces spread in the neighbourhood around most of the apartments, Dwarka is a much-in-demand, middle class residential area of south west Delhi.

Following the brutal rape and murder of a 17-year old, on New Year’s Eve in 2011, who was strangled by her jeans and dumped on a barren land adjacent to Sector 14 Metro Station, the incidence of serious crimes in the sub-city have only grown, highlighting the vulnerability of the residents here.

Felonies here already range from snatchings, robbery and harassment to rapes and murders, with Dwarka topping the ranks of most-crime hit.

However, neither did the 17-year old belong to Dwarka, nor did she come here purposely. Reportedly, she was brought here from central Delhi because the place seemed isolated and ideal for dumping a victim, similar to the recent incident of rape of a Ugandan woman (June 2014) and of a 20-year old northeastern girl, who was offered a lift from Gurgaon and taken to a secluded place in Sector-23, Dwarka, beaten up, raped and dumped in the thick green shrubs in Sector-23 in January 2012.

Reportedly, the Ugandan woman was also pulled into a car while returning from a friend’s house in Janakpuri, brought to an empty flat in Dwarka and raped in June this year.

“There are so many flats that are lying unoccupied in Dwarka and Rohini, compounded by lonely stretches of poorly-lit roads, so it becomes an ideal place for criminals to commit rape and murder and dump victims at these places,” says a senior police official at Sagarpur police station requesting not to be named.

“There is negligible sign of life here when I return from school. Rickshaws are expensive here, so I prefer walking the one Km stretch and often feel that someone is following. The dumped construction debris from the under-construction mall at the back of our society has only increased the sense of insecurity,” Ankita Sharma, a Sector-14 resident tells Metrolife.

Forget the night, for her walking even in daytime is a challenge. Deboard the Metro or the bus and your vulnerablity gets enhanced.

Bikers come and snatch your valuables; a stalker may follow you, harass and pass lewd remarks, or even try to pull you inside his car.

And pleaase don’t think that if you are a man you are safe! There have been incidents galore when a car has been snatched at gun-point while the owner was parking it in a crowded market place.

Equally worrying are incidents of sodomy and stabbing of a jogger who was attacked by a bike-borne miscreant, while he was waiting for his friend.

Sharing her hair-raising experience of how even going out for shopping became a nightmare for them, Meenu Singh tells Metrolife, “Two years back, my husband and I went to an eatery in Sector-12 market where our car was snatched at gun-point in early evening.”

Unfortunately, despite the grim scenario, little has been done to beef up security in
the sub-city.

The only visible change has been the installation of CCTV cameras in various residential societies, which of course has not really helped much.