CCTVs create a sense of fear in wrongdoers, says Swati Maliwal
In June, govt approved proposal to install CCTV cameras in DTC buses.
New Delhi: Advocating CCTV cameras in public transport for security of women tra-vellers, DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal said that CCTV cameras inculcate a sense of fear among people and prevent them from committing a crime.
“CCTV inculcates fear in wrong doers which can be used to prevent crimes against women specially in public transport buses,” the chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said.
In June, the Delhi government had approved a proposal to install CCTV cameras in all the DTC and cluster buses plying in the city. According to the Delhi government, the cost of the project, estimated to be around Rs 140 crore, would be borne fr-om the Centre’s Nirbhaya Fund. However, minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi had said that the Delhi government’s move to ins-tall CCTV cameras in DTC buses will have “zero effe-ct” on preventing cases of molestation and was a waste of money.
“The CCTV cameras in DTC would not work as these buses are so crowded. Firstly the camera, is a fixed camera not a rotating one. The kind of mole-station that occurs is touching (inappropriately) and the camera would not be able to pick it up so it is a waste of money,” Ms Gandhi had said in June.
The minister had said that the Nirbhaya fund was the nation’s money and it needed to be used effectively. She said while there was no doubt that women get molested in crowded buses but CCTV cameras would neither assist the victim, nor frig-hten the offender which was its primary role.
Responding to it, Ms Maliwal said a rotating camera can also be fixed and installation of CCTV cameras would inculcate a sense of fear among people.
“The Centre should distribute the fund to states and tell them they have to use it for these tasks to protect the wom-en. Right now, the government is just sitting on the fund and not using it,” she added.
The Nirbhaya Fund scheme was announced by the Center in 2013 after the sensational December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder case in the national capital to support the initiati-ves of the governments. and the NGOs working towards safety of women.