Back in focus: Need for CCTV along key roads

The Whiteline bus in which a 23-year-old paramedic student was gangraped on Sunday night in South Delhi was identified almost 20 hours after the crime and confiscated from RK Puram Phase-III.

Police were piecing together details from various sources to determine the route that the chartered bus took from Munirka, where the student and her friend boarded, till Mahipalpur (where they were dumped).

The handicap is attributed to lack of CCTV cameras on roads — even in high-security areas such as South Delhi. Officials said no interceptor or CCTV camera have been installed on this particular corridor.

A CCTV camera outside a hotel in Mahipalpur and a petrol pump on the Munirka-Mahipalpur stretch showed the bus crossing the area at 10:05:16 pm. This acted as a crucial lead in identifying the bus.

Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dharmendra Kumar said CCTV cameras were installed in sensitive areas, including markets, as part of their city surveillance project, but not on roads. Only speed guns are installed on roads to check traffic violations.

"We have installed cameras at more than 60 locations across the city. We have requested market associations to put CCTV cameras in their shops, with one facing outside to record activities on the roads or parking areas," Kumar said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said speed cameras or interceptors capture only those vehicles that flout traffic norms. "If a car is speeding, the speed cameras will record the numberplate. The other vehicles will go unnoticed. Even if the said stretch had interceptors or night vision cameras, these would not have clicked a photo of the vehicle because the driver was not speeding. CCTV cameras with recording facility are required in such cases."

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