Delhi Police to ensure women's safety at bus stops

In a bid to prevent crimes against women and to bring bus stops in the national capital under surveillance, Delhi Police will deploy personnel at different locations, Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi said Friday.

The commissioner said that although his force could not monitor every bus stop in the city, policemen would be deployed in the most crime-prone areas of the national capital.

"Though crime is not limited to any particular place and can happen anywhere, there are some places in the national capital which witnessed more severe crimes and very frequently," Bassi explained, while addressing reporters during the annual press conference of Delhi Police.

The special police deployment will be made in more than 358 bus stops, he said.

Bassi said more than 75 percent of Delhi's people use public transport, and the security of those using such services was paramount.

"In the last one decade, there has been a rise in the number of chain-snatching and acid-attack cases, mostly in the bus stop areas, making women and girls feel vulnerable," Bassi said.

"The special deployment in the bus stop areas will be to ensure the protection of women and prevent all sorts of crime," Bassi said.

The issue of women's safety in Delhi was thrown into focus by the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape incident, which occurred after a young woman and her friend, waiting for a bus, got into a private vehicle.