Four years after Nirbhaya assault, a new rape hotspot in Delhi – Aman Vihar

Aman Vihar has a population of roughly 1.2 million, 95 per cent of which is constituted by migrants.

New Delhi, Dec 16: Four years have passed on since the brutal gang rape of Nirbhaya, which led to the 23-year-old’s death. The heinous crime shook the entire nation. Delhi Police, along with the state and central government came under the ire of activists and commoners, for the lack of security for women. Delhi got branded as the rape capital across the world. It was hoped that the Nirbhaya gang rape case would be the ‘wake up’ call for the administration, with conditions only improving for women after the unfateful night of December 16, 2012. However, the ground realities are still depressing. Four years after the Nirbhaya assault, a new rape hotspot emerged in the national capital – Aman Vihar.

Aman Vihar, a prominent region of northwest Delhi, has reported a sharp surge in rape cases over the past four years. While only eight rape cases were reported from the locality in 2012, the numbers rose to 60 in 2016. Following is the data gathered by The Indian Express:

Year	Rape cases in Delhi	Rape Cases in Aman Vihar
2012	706	8
2013	1,636	21
2014	2,166	40
2015	2,199	38
2016	1,981	60

According to reports, the rise in rape cases is mainly due to massive amount of migrant population, who can remain anonymous. According to a police officer who spoke with the Indian Express, the migrants are not literate and come to Aman Vihar in search for jobs. A section of the population, on not getting employment, resort to alcohol and gambling. The lack of security vigils allow them to carry out heinous crimes like gang rapes.

Another reason for the blatant disregard of law, Assistant District Magistrate Vivek Agrawal explains, is the fact that Aman Vihar has a floating population, which makes it difficult for police to record identities of the dwellers. Most of the criminals escape to the neighbouring states, leaving no trail of identification for the police.

According to AAP MLA from Aman Vihar, Rituraj Jha, the crime rate is increasing as 95 per cent of the population is formed by immigrants, with the literacy level being abysmally low.

Aman Vihar has a population of roughly 1.2 million. For the district administration, a major step to crackdown on the surging crime would be through the installation of CCTV cameras. According to report, nearly 98,344 street light points need to be installed in the area. Currently, only 770 are in place.