Number of non-functional CCTV cameras negligible, no blind spot: DMRC says women safety survey has ‘misleading’ figures

The spokesperson for the DMRC said that “misleading inferences” were drawn by the study, the findings of which were reported by The Indian Express

The report is based on an analysis of the RTI response, spot checks at stations, interviews of 10 staffers across metro stations, and a survey involving around 70 women in the age group of 18 to 30 who have used the Delhi Metro (File Photo)

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has clarified that even when some CCTV cameras inside its trains are under maintenance, the covered area mostly does not have any blind spot, with other cameras working. The DMRC issued the clarification in response to a study based on data obtained under RTI Act that stated that 300-500 CCTV cameras inside Delhi Metro trains were found to be non-functional every year between 2020 and 2024.

“Even in the case of such CCTVs under maintenance, the area mostly remains free from any blind spot due to wide coverage available through adjacent CCTVs. This is due to efficacy of this robust mechanism that no major cases of any untowardly incident have been reported in all these years,” DMRC said.

The spokesperson for the DMRC said that “misleading inferences” were drawn by the study, the findings of which were reported by The Indian Express. “… it (300-500) is an annual figure — which means on any given day, the number of CCTVs under maintenance are just one or two from a pool of around 24,000 (11,000 on trains and 13,000 in metro stations), which are running smoothly every single day,” the spokesperson said, adding that the annual figures of non-functional cameras form only a negligible percentage on a given day.

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“The DMRC would like to strongly rebut such a misleading inference being made out of this extremely selective data implying that women’s safety is compromised in metro premises due to non-functionality of CCTVs,” the spokesperson added.

The data was shared by the DMRC in response to an RTI filed by Mishthi Khurana and Yashika Jain, principal investigators of the study. The report is based on an analysis of the RTI response, spot checks at stations, interviews of 10 staffers across metro stations, and a survey involving around 70 women in the age group of 18 to 30 who have used the Delhi Metro.

The women’s safety report, ‘Between Stations’, was launched on Saturday at the HAQ Summit 2025, titled ‘Her Right to Roam’, at Pragati Maidan’s Crafts Museum.

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