Inside Aastha Kunj Park: Few guards, no lights

On June 26 last year, two friends were attacked while on a walk at Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji temple

On June 26 last year, two friends were attacked while on a walk at Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji temple. With no guards nearby to stop them, the two attackers escaped — and returned three days later to rob a jogger. This time, however, they were caught. More than a year later, on Monday evening, the unsavoury reputation of this park, one of Delhi’s biggest, is back the headlines. Three men exploited the same security lapses to gang-rape a 17-year-old girl between 7.30 and 8.30pm.

Unlit stretch outside Gate Number one of Aastha Kunj Park in the evening. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

Spread over a sprawling 142 acres with lush greenery, the park is meant to be a secluded haven from the hustle and bustle of city life. But only during the day. At night, the same seclusion, locals say, have turned the park into a “hub” for drug addicts, snatchers and thieves.

“I sometimes come here to walk. It’s very close to my house but, in the last two years, it has become risky. So many bodies are found here. There are snatchers and robbers here who carry knives all the time,” said Archit Srivastava, a resident of Sant Nagar, which lies a few 100 metres to the north of the park.

On Tuesday, as details of the horrific gang rape emerged, a spot check of the park around 3pm found that across the park’s seven entry points, only one had two guards. This would allow the nearly hundreds of people who visit the park to pass through it with very little security.

A third guard was seen making rounds inside the park on a motorcycle. The guard would occasionally stop to tell visitors sitting in secluded areas to either leave or move towards better-lit and more open areas.

In an official statement, however, DDA contested this, stating that the park has 27 guards who work in three shifts. At least nine guards should be present at all times.

“The park is huge and it’s impossible to keep a vigil in each and every area. Handling young couples is a major problem that we face. They become aggressive when we ask them not to sit in isolated or poorly lit areas. Many of them accuse us of moral policing and threaten to file police complaints. Sometimes, we also face violent responses from visitors,” said one of the guards said in the evening, adding that police patrolling is also done in the park. All guards are armed only with a stick and a torch.

In terms of police presence, one PCR van was stationed outside gate number 3. Its occupants —two policemen — were seated inside the van. It was not clear if they were meant to be patrolling the area.

By evening, however, several more officers, including joint commissioner of police (southern range) Vijay Kumar, were present in the area because of the incident.

When asked about police presence, a senior officer said it was “impossible to man the entire park” because of its size and how dense it is. “At night, there’s no light and even police personnel can’t go there for patrolling. We are trying to increase deployment but DDA has to fix their boundary walls and deploy more guards.”

According to the officer, the park is surrounded by colonies like Sri Niwaspuri, Garhi Village, Govindpuri, Okhla Mandi and Kalkajii and the boundary wall into the park from many of these sides is broken. “Anyone can easily enter the park,” the officer added.

After the sunset, the park was only partially lit, offering long stretches of darkness shrouded by tall trees. Many people could be seen on the main path walking only by the light of their phone torches.

Despite this, regular activity continued. Families with children were seen at the kids playing zone, while other visitors were using the open gym, or walking or running on tracks. Some people also used the track between gate numbers 2 and 3 to cross over between Iskon Temple and the Kalkaji-Lotus Temples. Most people were unaware of the gang-rape.

Seated on a bench near Gate number 2 were Vivek Gupta, a 28-year-old resident of Noida, and his fiancée Anjali, 24. “We don’t come here often. Nobody stopped us at the gate or told anything about the sexual assault. We now feel scared and may not come here again after sunset,” said Gupta.

Alok Kumar, 60, a resident of East of Kailash, pointed to one empty guard room which was being used to dump waste. “The park is not only unsafe but also dirty. The pond has no water. At night, there’s no lights near the Iskon Temple entry side. Why would anyone come here at night? Only criminals come here because it’s very easy for them. There are no guards, no police and so many entrances for them.”