The alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park in southeast Delhi’s Kalkaji area has brought safety and maintenance at the sprawling 142-acre park under scrutiny, with residents and welfare associations flagging poor lighting, damaged boundary walls and inadequate security.
Residents said parks maintained by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) remained poorly lit in the evening. Damaged sections of boundary walls also made it difficult to monitor movement in and around the premises.
Navjiwan Residents’ Welfare Association secretary Ruby Makhija said: “One of the biggest issues is that these are huge parks, which are under DDA, but there is no proper ownership. The recent incident has highlighted the problem. If the DDA is unable to properly upkeep these parks, it should let locals come together and form neighbourhood park safety committees, with members from Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs), police officials and others.”
Makhija said park timings should be clearly displayed and the authorities should ensure adequate lighting throughout the premises.
The girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men posing as police personnel at the park on Monday. The incident has raised questions about security after dark and the monitoring of the park’s multiple entry and exit points.
Aastha Kunj is among the large green spaces maintained by the DDA, which manages more than 16,000 acres of green assets in the city, including over 700 parks, biodiversity zones, city forests, regional parks and neighbourhood gardens. Residents questioned whether existing arrangements were adequate to ensure security and maintenance across these areas.
A south Delhi resident said Aastha Kunj had once been a favourite spot for morning and evening visits.
“We used to regularly go there for walks and jogging, but the situation has completely deteriorated now. The DDA should be held accountable for the condition and management of the public environment under its control,” the resident said.
Sant Nagar RWA general secretary Vaibhav Gupta said details emerging from the investigation raised fundamental questions about the DDA’s management of one of the capital’s major public parks.
“If DDA needs outside agencies or adoption models to maintain parks effectively, why has it not established a consistently effective system of basic security and maintenance within parks under its direct jurisdiction?” he asked.
The DDA said it had deployed additional security guards on night shifts and was conducting regular patrols to cover the entire park. Bike patrols equipped with torches and other safety equipment were being carried out at night, and additional lighting was being installed at identified dark spots, it said.
Lieutenant Governor T.S. Sandhu, who heads the DDA, has directed that a safety audit of all DDA parks be conducted by next week. Several interim safety measures are also expected.
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