6630 cameras installed in prone areas to strengthen women’s safety in Delhi

Delhi police on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that 6630 CCTV cameras have been installed in vulnerable areas of the capital as part of measures to ensure the safety of women.
These CCTV cameras are monitored in 50 master control rooms, the city police told a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula.
The court granted the city police time to consider installing panic buttons on poles on which these cameras are installed for helping women in distress.
The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it in 2012 on the issue of safety and security of women after the horrific December 16, 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus. She succumbed to her injuries days later.
Advocate Meera Bhatia, who was appointed as amicus curiae, friend of court, to assist it in the matter, suggested that panic buttons be installed on poles having CCTV cameras so any woman in distress is able to alert the personnel present in the master control rooms immediately.
Additional standing counsel Anuj Aggarwal, who was representing the Delhi police, said the authorities will certainly consider the proposal and urged the court to grant him some time. The bench granted the city police four weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on October 6.
The high court had earlier directed the police to take “immediate and urgent steps” to install CCTV cameras in vulnerable areas of Delhi, saying it will help curb crime and make women secure.