Adolescent girl gang raped near Kalkaji temple create sensitivity in the capital

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New Delhi, the national capital is witnessing a fresh wave of concern over women safety after two recent incidents that have triggered panic across the city. In the latest case reported on Monday night from South Delhi, a 17 year old girl who had come to Kalkaji Temple for darshan with a male friend was allegedly gang raped by three men posing as policemen.

According to Delhi Police, after offering prayers around 7 pm the two went to sit in the nearby Astha Kunj Park through Gate No 7 around 7.30 pm where three accused aged between 25 and 30 years approached them identifying themselves as police personnel.

The accused allegedly separated the girl from her friend, threatened her with a firearm and a knife and sexually assaulted her in a secluded area of the park which connects Kalkaji Mandir and ISKCON Temple.

A PCR call was received at 8.45 pm at Amar Colony Police Station and the survivor was found with her friend and taken to AIIMS for medical examination. Police have registered a case under sections 70(2) gang rape, 61(2) criminal conspiracy, 115(2) and 351(3) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with sections 6 and 17 of the POCSO Act.

One accused identified as Asif was arrested after a brief encounter near DM Office Road in Amar Colony early Tuesday after he allegedly opened fire at police and was shot in the leg, while search for two others is on and CCTV footage from the park and surrounding areas is being examined.

The incident comes close on the heels of another horrific case that drew parallels with the 2012 Nirbhaya case. On the rainy night of August 4, a 16 year old Class 11 student from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh who had left home after being scolded and was trying to reach her cousin in Noida Sector 63 mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida. She signalled for help and boarded an empty sleeper bus after the conductor assured her that it was going to Sector 63. Police said the bus was not on regular passenger service and was being taken from a workshop in Surajpur after repairs towards Kashmere Gate for painting. Inside the moving bus with curtains drawn around the berths, driver Kuldeep, 39, and conductor Sandeep, 26, both residents of Kanpur, allegedly raped her during the nearly 47 kilometre journey and threatened to kill her when she resisted before abandoning her near Ring Road at Kashmere Gate.

The girl reached Kashmere Gate police station in an auto and reported the crime. Both accused were traced with CCTV and arrested from Timarpur parking the same day, the bus was seized and forensic examination including clothes, seat covers and hair strands found inside was conducted.

While these two cases have heightened sensitivity, overall crime figures of Delhi present a mixed picture.

Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golchha while addressing the Commissionerate Day in July said heinous crimes in the city have declined by 8 per cent this year and offences registered under BNS have reduced by 12 per cent, with crimes against women down by nearly 17 per cent and detection rate in such cases reaching 98 per cent with 95 per cent charge sheets filed within statutory time and 35 POCSO cases charge sheeted within two weeks.

Property crime has also seen a drop with motor vehicle theft down by 21 per cent and other thefts down by 15 per cent, which police said are the lowest in ten years.

At the same time the volume remains massive.

According to Delhi Police data for 2025, the city reported 35,014 motor vehicle thefts, down from 39,976 in 2024 and 40,045 in 2023, which still means nearly 96 vehicles stolen every day and accounting for almost 20 per cent of total crime.

As per NCRB Crime in India 2024 report, Delhi reported 1,80,973 theft cases, nearly 497 cases per day and 73.3 per cent of national total thefts, emerging as the theft capital. Snatching continues to be a major worry with 5,406 cases in 2025, averaging 15 cases a day, with a solving rate of only 64.22 per cent, while robbery came down to 1,326 cases with 97.51 per cent detection and murder stood at 491 cases with 95.32 per cent solved.

Extortion, often linked to jailed gangsters and foreign based handlers using encrypted calls and juveniles as shooters, saw 212 cases in 2025 with only 63.68 per cent solved.

Police also flagged a new age dacoity in form of cyber fraud with fraudsters stealing Rs 1,250 crore from victims in Delhi region in one year, up from Rs 1,100 crore in 2024, including a recent Rs 14.85 crore digital arrest fraud on a senior couple in Greater Kailash. Juvenile crime has jumped 30 per cent in first half of 2026 with 1,404 cases till June 15 against 1,080 last year, with dacoity and robbery by juveniles rising 55 per cent from 104 to 161, attempt to murder from 103 to 159 and rape from 61 to 86, indicating a shift towards serious violent crimes.