On September 19, two minor students in Bihar’s Jamui reportedly went to a location after coaching to take photographs and were allegedly confronted and harassed by a group. Days later, a tourist couple travelling towards Odisha’s Kapilash Temple was allegedly stopped and harassed on an isolated road. On September 21, a 17-year-old girl in Delhi’s Astha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Temple was allegedly sexually assaulted by three men who, according to police, posed as officers. The incidents are different in their circumstances, but they raise the same uncomfortable question: who is actually safe in India?
These are not three stories that should be viewed only through the lens of three FIRs. They involve minors and adults, different states, public spaces and isolated stretches, and different alleged methods of intimidation. Yet each brings attention back to a larger concern: whether women and girls can move through everyday spaces without having to constantly calculate the risks around them.
Three Places, One Concern
In Jamui, police said the incident occurred around 7 pm on September 19 in the Jamui police-station area. The two victims were identified and their statements recorded after a video circulated on social media. Jamui Police formed an SIT and initially arrested three people. Subsequent reporting said two more accused were apprehended, taking the total number held in connection with the case to five. The National Commission for Women also took suo motu cognisance and sought identification and arrest of those involved, a time-bound investigation, assistance and counselling for the victims, and action to prevent further circulation of the video.
The Odisha incident unfolded on an isolated road leading to the Kapilash Temple in Dhenkanal district. Police registered an FIR at Gondia Police Station after a video circulated online and detained two people. Dhenkanal SP Abhinav Sonkar said the investigation was underway and that further action would follow if preliminary evidence established involvement. Police said they had not yet established the full sequence of events or the total number of people involved.
In Delhi, police said a 17-year-old girl and her 17-year-old male friend visited Kalkaji Mandir on September 21 and later went to Astha Kunj Park. Three men allegedly approached them, claimed to be policemen and threatened them before separating the girl from her friend. Police registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and POCSO Act. All three accused—identified as Asif, Hemant and Mukesh—were arrested. Police said Asif allegedly fired at officers while being intercepted and was subsequently injured and arrested. The girl underwent medical examination, while CCTV footage and forensic evidence were examined.
The allegations in the Delhi case remain subject to the criminal investigation and judicial process.
The Numbers Behind the Concern
National data shows why these incidents cannot be understood only as isolated events.
According to the NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report, 4,41,534 cases of crimes against women were registered in India in 2024, compared with 4,48,211 in 2023. The crime rate was 64.6 cases per lakh women. The largest category was cruelty by husbands or relatives, with 1,20,227 cases. Rape accounted for 29,536 registered cases.
The figures also show that safety is not simply a question of what happens on roads after dark. A substantial share of registered crimes against women occurs within domestic or familiar settings. That matters because discussions about women’s safety can become overly focused on deserted streets, policing and public transport while overlooking risks within homes and social circles.
Children face another layer of vulnerability. NCRB recorded 1,87,702 crimes against children in 2024, up 5.9% from 2023. POCSO cases accounted for 69,191 of them, or 36.9%.
For penetrative and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Sections 4 and 6 of POCSO, NCRB data recorded 44,126 cases involving 44,567 child victims. Girls accounted for 43,675 of those victims. In 96.6% of these cases, the accused was known to the child.
That last figure is particularly important. It shows why safety cannot be reduced to more patrols or better lighting alone. Prevention also involves families, schools, neighbourhoods, institutions and the ability of children to report abuse safely.
Laws Are Only One Layer
India has a substantial legal framework. POCSO specifically protects children below 18 from sexual assault, sexual harassment and related offences, while providing for Special Courts. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which came into force on July 1, 2024, contains a dedicated chapter on offences against women and children.
But a law becomes meaningful only through implementation.
The Jamui case illustrates one part of that chain: a video came to police attention, victims were traced, statements were recorded, an SIT was formed and arrests followed. In Odisha, police acted after taking cognisance of the circulating video, registering an FIR and detaining two people. In Delhi, police responded to a PCR call, arranged medical examination, examined CCTV and forensic evidence and arrested all three accused.
Those actions matter and should be acknowledged.
The harder question is what happens before the crime, and what follows after the initial police response.
NCRB data for 2024 shows an 81.3% chargesheeting rate for rape cases, but the conviction rate was 24.4% among completed trials. These figures measure different stages of the system and should not be directly equated: chargesheeting concerns police disposal, while conviction rate concerns cases in which trials were completed.
That distinction points to a wider challenge: reporting a crime, investigating it, prosecuting it and reaching a final judicial outcome are separate stages.
Safety Cannot Begin After Crime
The repeated pattern across Jamui, Kapilash and Kalkaji should therefore prompt questions beyond arrests.
Can women and girls safely travel, study, work, visit places of worship or simply spend time outdoors without having to assess whether a road is isolated, whether strangers may intervene or whether someone claiming to be an authority can be trusted?
There is no single institution responsible for answering that question. Police have a central role in prevention, response and investigation. Governments and local administrations are responsible for infrastructure, lighting, transport and institutional safeguards. Schools and colleges have responsibilities towards students. Courts determine guilt and deliver justice. Families and communities influence whether victims are believed and supported. Society also has a responsibility to reject harassment, intimidation and the idea that strangers or groups have any authority to police another person’s choices.
The three incidents do not establish that every public space is unsafe, nor can three cases explain every reason crimes occur. But their geographical spread and differing circumstances make one thing difficult to ignore: women’s safety cannot be treated as a problem belonging to one city, one state or one government.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The question is not simply whether authorities act after an incident. In all three cases, authorities have taken action in different forms. The more fundamental question is whether systems are strong enough to prevent violence, make reporting easier, protect victims and witnesses, ensure professional investigation and deliver timely justice.
Safety should not become visible only when a video goes viral, an FIR is registered or arrests are announced. It should exist quietly in the ordinary moments of life—in a student’s journey home, a couple travelling to a temple, a teenager visiting a public park, a woman returning from work.
The measure of a safe society is not how quickly it reacts after someone is harmed. It is whether people can live their everyday lives without having to plan around the possibility of harm. So the question for authorities and society is not merely who will be arrested after the next incident, but what will be done before the next woman or child needs protection.
Also Read: 3 Men Posing As Cops Allegedly Gang-Rape 17-Year-Old In Delhi Park; All Arrested
