Mincing no words, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Delhi Police to instil genuine fear in the minds of ‘goons’ intending to commit crimes against women and not to hesitate in taking strict action against those threatening their safety.“What is important is to prevent a crime, not what you do after a crime is committed,” said a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran which had on September 28 taken suo motu cognisance of recent cases of rape in Delhi-NCR.”In a country like India merely putting things on paper is not enough. You need to get into action. There will be people who will raise a hue and cry about article 21 (Right to life and liberty) but you have to do your duty,” the Bench told the Delhi Police.“If you have to be a little more strict, a little more harsh, do not hesitate. You need to create fright, fear in the mind of a man who is prone to commit such offences. Unless you create such fright in the minds of the criminals ‘ki ab kuch kiya toh mar jayengey’ (If we commit crimes, we will die), you will not be able to prevent such crimes,” it told the Delhi Police.“Every girl who is molested is our sister, our mother. It’s a huge challenge for the police department of NCT Delhi. Don’t allow such things to happen,” it said.The Bench noted that there was a feeling that women were not safe in the city, particularly some vulnerable pockets.Calling for collective efforts to prevent crimes against women in Delhi, it said, “We have to work together. We must ensure that every woman in Delhi-NCR should feel safe even at 11 pm whether travelling on the roads or the metro.”It sought to know from Delhi Police if they had a mechanism to continuously monitor the vulnerable pockets and respond to security situations.The court also stressed that every woman in Delhi should feel safe, whether walking at 10 pm or travelling by metro or road. “Deficiencies, if any, should not facilitate commission of crime,” it said.The Bench said the response of the police should be such that it instilled confidence in the common man to talk to them.Referring to the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park in Delhi, it questioned the police, saying “It has been said people warned you about these people (criminals) even in this unfortunate case.”The Bench directed the police to track suspects through the national database of sexual offenders and focus on areas around colleges and unauthorised eateries in the city.“There are hooligans who keep harassing girl students. We are told there are thousands of unauthorised eateries across Delhi and unsocial elements gather there. Even liquor is allowed in such places,” the Bench said.The Supreme Court had on September 28 taken suo motu cognisance of recent cases of rape in Delhi-NCR, including sexual assault on a minor in a moving sleeper bus in Delhi.“One cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012,” the Bench had said, adding that expressing solidarity was not enough.“What’s necessary is fixing accountability,” it had noted.“Expressions of solidarity devoid of accountability fall short of answering the larger institutional question. Expressing solidarity is not a solution to this social evil. What is required is a measurable response with the responsibility and accountability fixed upon authorities entrusted with the prevention of crimes, maintenance of public order and protection of vulnerable persons,” it had said.Asserting that “the right to live with dignity free from the fear of violence is an intrinsic facet of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the Bench said, “These incidents starkly highlight a failure of law enforcement.”It said, “Public spaces, including roads, parks, buses, metro stations, subways, footbridges, cannot be permitted to become zones of high risk due to grossly inadequate illumination, poor surveillance, lack of patrolling and other preventable administrative deficiencies.”The Bench referred to the recent gang-rape and murder of a teenage girl in Swaroop Nagar in the national capital where the victim’s decomposed body was recovered from a field.Referring to the sexual assault committed on a minor girl in a moving sleeping bus which the police failed to intercept during its 47 km route from Greater Noida to Delhi, it said “One cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012.” In the Nirbhaya case too, the victim was gangraped on a moving bus.“These incidents considered alongside other recent reports of sexual offences across Delhi-NCR starkly underline a systematic failure on the part of the law enforcement and the public administrative authorities to guarantee basic public safety,” the Bench had noted.