A 43-km journey from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to Kashmere Gate in North Delhi – the route allegedly taken by a private sleeper bus in which a 16-year-old girl was gang-raped – has raised serious questions over surveillance and security on the road connecting Greater Noida and Delhi.
Pari Chowk: Police Booth, PCR Van, Barricading
At the spot, we found a police booth, a PCR van and heavy barricading along the roadside. The police infrastructure was clearly visible at this point. There was barricading, but no police personnel during daytime check. Moving towards the Delhi-Noida intersection near Mayur Vihar, which is one of the busiest stretches on the route, the NDTV team saw heavy barricading along the roadside. However, during our daytime ground check, there were no police personnel present at the spot. Generally, they are present at night. Another gap was visible at the traffic signals. CCTV cameras were missing from the traffic signals at this intersection. We captured this on camera during the ground check. From Pari Chowk to Kashmere Gate, NDTV covered the entire route, stopping at major points to check police checkpoints, barricading and surveillance arrangements.
Because pari Chowk is the point from where the minor allegedly boarded the bus, this is significant. It is important to clarify that our visit was conducted during the day and therefore the absence of police personnel at this point cannot by itself establish whether personnel were deployed there on the night of August 4. Just about 20 steps from Pari Chowk, the first police checkpoint. We found only two checkpoints on the entire 43-km stretch.
