Chandigarh woman gangraped: Non-functional CCTV cameras hit probe

The Dehradun girl, who was staying as a paying guest in Phase 3B1, Mohali, had hired a shared auto from the Sector 36/37 light point.

Two days after a 21-year-old woman was gangraped in Sector 53, the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras have failed to aid police probe once again. In fact, none of the cameras installed on the Chandigarh-Mohali border was found to be functional.

A non-functional CCTV camera on the national highway, near the furniture market on the Chandigarh-Mohali border. (HT Photo)

The Dehradun girl, who was staying as a paying guest in Phase 3B1, Mohali, had hired a shared auto from the Sector 36/37 light point.

Previous incidents

Varnika stalking case — August 4, 2017: CCTV cameras were found to be non-functional when Varnika Kundu, a local DJ, was stalked by Haryana BJP chief’ son and his friend on Madhya Marg. The two were arrested at the Housing Board light point.

Akash Sen murder — February 9: In the high-profile murder of Akansh Sen, nephew of Himachal Pradesh CM, no CCTV camera was found working in the posh neighbourhood in Sector 9. Akansh was run over by a BMW car.

Gangrape — December 12, 2016: A 21-year-old call centre employee was gangraped in Sector 29. While the auto driver was arrested, his aide remained untraceable in absence of CCTV footage.

Though the police have procured footage of cameras installed at the Sector-42 filling station, where the auto stopped to refuel, and are showing the suspects pictures to people at bus stands, railway station and auto stands besides in colonies, no breakthrough has been made yet.

After raping the woman in a low-lying area along the service lane on the national highway, the auto driver along with the two other suspects had driven towards Mohali. But owing to non-functional CCTV cameras, the auto number could not be traced. Moreover, there are no CCTV cameras at traffic intersections in Mohali, making it impossible to track the suspects’ movement.

‘Several complaints, but no action’

“The CCTV cameras installed on the Chandigarh-Mohali entrance points are not working,” said area councillor Satish Kumar Kainth. “I have raised the issue a number of times, but nothing has been done so far.”

Kainth said despite several complaints of drug addicts frequenting the place where the woman was gangraped, police have not been conducting patrolling. Presence of wild growth and absence of streetlights on the service lane have been raising safety concerns in the past as well, he said.

However, the administration has no plans of installing CCTV cameras on this stretch of NH-21, even as it sees a heavy flow of interstate vehicles. “As of now there is no proposal to install cameras on this stretch through there is a proposal to install CCTV cameras across the city,” said UT superintending engineer (SE) Ranjit Singh. “However, the stretch will be covered by December 2018.”

300 people quizzed, still no clue

Meanwhile, even after questioning about 300 persons from Chandigarh to Ambala and digging into the database of criminals, the UT police have not been able to make any breakthrough. The police have also shown to the victim pictures of rape accused out on bail or those acquitted, but to no avail.

“We are checking all auto drivers in the city besides increasing vigil at bus stands and railway station, said UT senior superintendent of police Nilambari Vijay Jagdale. “We are working on some leads.”

Meanwhile, the victim has told police that the accused appeared to be migrants from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. She said they were speaking in some dialect of Hindi.