Why this dark corner in Delhi has become rape’s Ground Zero

An argument ensues, the bus driver is beaten up by police, the three are forced to disperse. At any other place, this would have been a routine drunken bust-up. But in Aman Vihar, the police officer in charge says, “This is how it starts.”

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The ‘it’ is a reference to rape.

The police officer has a reason. For, four years after the gangrape on board a bus in South Delhi rocked the nation, this neighbourhood in the capital’s northwest has emerged as the Ground Zero of sexual assault — the highest number of reported cases in absolute terms from any police station in the city this year.

In 2012, when the 23-year-old physiotherapy student’s rape spurred amendments in sexual assault law, Aman Vihar recorded just eight cases of rape. That number dramatically rose each year pushing it to the first place among all police stations and, except for a dip last year, the trend has remained. This year, Aman Vihar has already recorded 60 rapes — more than one per week.

“All the men in that bus were from different parts of Delhi, but chose to halt in Aman Vihar. Its dark roads, stretches of empty land and secluded corners assure anonymity. This is how this area is,” says the officer.

Indeed, geography is a factor along with others. In an investigation spanning three months, The Indian Express examined 41 FIRs registered in the Aman Vihar police station, court records of ongoing cases; visited several rape victims, their families and relatives of accused; spoke to more than a dozen police officers, public prosecutors and a judge; and, joined police patrols many times over a 24-hour stretch.

This is what emerged from this area spread across 8 sq km and housing more than 1 million people:

# From eight cases in 2012, Aman Vihar recorded 60 cases of sexual assault in 2016, right at the top. (Mehrauli, at No. 2, had 48 cases.)

# In at least 60 per cent of sexual assault cases, victims are minors.

# At least 157 children were kidnapped, only 44 found — in 2012, 12 children had gone missing.

# 87 per cent of victims of sexual assault were below the poverty line.

# 88 per cent of accused had studied up to Class 10, 10 per cent were illiterate and less than 2 per cent graduates.

# 45 cases of illicit liquor consumption, 34 cases of gambling and 12 cases of drug use were registered this year.

# And, the police station has 155 personnel against a sanctioned strength of 210, which means one policeman for almost 5,000 people.

“People migrate from different parts of the country and settle down in Aman Vihar. They don’t have permanent addresses. Their identity remains a mystery. The area has also seen a rise in land disputes, and there are 108 unauthorised colonies. The same person who commits a petty theft can be involved in rape. Also, job losses results in drug addiction and gambling,” says a police officer, who was professionally involved with the district and is now with the LNJN National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, Delhi.

“Don’t look at the rise in cases of rape in isolation, but look at the rise in other criminal activities. That will explain a place like Aman Vihar,” he says.

According to local AAP MLA, Rituraj Jha, 95 per cent of the population are migrants and the literacy rate is abysmal. “It’s just about 50 per cent (the city’s is over 86 per cent). Most of the young men are unemployed so they indulge in petty crime like betting and consuming liquor in public places,” says Jha.

Advocate Shubra Mendirata, member, Delhi Commission of Woman, says that a majority of the cases of sexual assault registered in Aman Vihar this year involved minors in unauthorised colonies.

“What is more shocking is that most of the accused persons are strangers. Children are usually subjected to sexual assault when their parents, mostly daily-wage labourers, are out for work,” she says.

Vivek Aggarwal, Assistant District Magistrate (North-West), says one of the reasons for the spike in sexual assault here is what he calls the floating population which gets power from its anonymity. “People stay here for a very short period, due to which it is very difficult to establish their identities. This area is in a developing stage, hence most criminals find easy escape routes,” says Aggarwal. A walk around Aman Vihar underscores this assessment. The lanes are narrow and houses — 24-30 sq ft — are packed wall to wall with up to six occupants in each.

In some parts, there are no sewage lines, which means no toilets. “We don’t have any public toilet or sewer line, what can we do? Our family members, including women, have to relieve themselves in the open every morning,” says Manoj Kumar, a resident in Prem Nagar, who migrated to Aman Vihar 17 years ago. Residents say this makes the women in the area particularly vulnerable.

In a desperate effort to tackle the crime rate, the district administration is now preparing to install CCTV cameras and more streetlights. But it’s a long road — of the 98,344 street light points for a population of 3.6 million in northwest Delhi. With a third of that population, Aman Vihar has only 770 — less than one percent.