Delhi to act tough on private buses, unverified staff: Shinde

The home minister's statement was made in the wake of the gang-rape of the 23-year-old woman Sunday, in a running bus with tinted glasses.

Law and order in the capital comes under the control of the union government, and the home minister was apprising the Rajya Sabha on measures being taken for security of women and men in Delhi.

He said he had conducted a review, with senior Delhi Police officials, of the security lapses that made such a brutal gang-rape possible.

"Immediate crackdown on all commercial buses having tinted glasses and curtains and all of them will be impounded. Delhi Police will undertake verification of all drivers and staff of public vehicles, including autorickshaws, plying in Delhi. In case there are vehicles which have staff that have not been verified by the police, such vehicles will be impounded," the home minister said, listing measures that will be taken.

Shinde also said that Delhi Police have issued orders that all buses should ply at night with their passenger cabin lights on.

"All off-duty buses must be parked with owner, not driver or staff. The driver's licence with photograph should be displayed on buses, which must also display helpline numbers," he said.

Shinde said a decision has also been taken to increase the fleet of the vehicles at the disposal of the Police Control Room (PCR), and all such vehicles will also be fitted with the GPS system.

The home minister said four of the six men accused of the gang-rape Sunday night have now been arrested.

"Police teams are continuously conducting raids to arrest the remaining two. A Special Investigation Team has been constituted," he said.

"A lady IPS offer has been directed to visit the hospital and take stock of the victims's condition daily, and extend all help to her family," the minister said.

The brutal rape and torture of the student of physiotherapy occurred Sunday night when after watching a movie she and her friend boarded a private bus at Munirka in south Delhi to go to Dwarka in west Delhi.

The woman was beaten up and raped by at least six men inside the running bus. The woman is in a critical condition, battling for life at Safdarjung Hospital.

Her male friend was also beaten up and thrown out of the bus under a flyover near the domestic airport. He too was admitted to the same hospital, from where he has been discharged.