2012 Delhi gangrape: Police presence strong near Mahipalpur flyover where the woman was dumped, spot remains dimly lit

While one side of the carriageway beneath the Mahipalpur flyover — the road from Munirka — is brightly lit mostly by neon boards of the row of hotels that line the road, the opposite side, which is the carriageway that leads towards Dhaula Kuan, does not have street lights along a stretch that begins after the Mahipalpur bus stand and extends for about 500 metres. It is partly lit by streetlights that are on the flyover. The streetlights along the stretch return close to the road that branches off towards Aerocity, a road that was not around 10 years ago.

The carriageway along which they were dumped is sandwiched between the flyover and what is now a wall that bears the Airports Authority of India logo. A row of taxis waiting for airport runs are parked beside the wall. Those who work in the area and local police officers said the area was overgrown with bushes and trees a few years ago, but some of that now lies behind the wall, leaning over onto the road.

Ashok Pandey, who has been working at one of the hotels near the Mahipalpur flyover for about 15 years, pointed to a spot across the road. “That’s where they were left. The vehicle would have taken a U-turn a little ahead and left them behind. The area was overgrown then with bushes, and the wall that now lies by the side of the road did not exist then. Not much has changed since then, the area is more or less the same,” said Pandey, who recalls bedsheets being taken from one of the hotels to help cover the woman and her friend before they were taken to the hospital. The accounts in the Supreme Court order make a similar mention of help from the hotels.

Further away, in the direction of the signal where the road branches off towards the airport terminals, a police booth stands along the carriageway where they were dumped, close to the Mahipalpur bus stand. According to an officer at the booth, it is likely to be only a little more than a year old. On Friday evening, policemen stood close to the bus stand as well. Barricades stand by the side of the road close to the U-turn that vehicles take to get onto the side that leads to Dhaula Kuan. The barricades are put in place at night, and the road is busy even later at night, the officer said. The bus stand is crowded in the evening, with several private buses headed towards Palam and Manglapuri.

Across the road, close to the hotels, another police booth stands, one that had recently been relocated to its current spot from a location slightly further away, according to officers at the booth.