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Supreme Court gives Centre till November 23 for a 'meaningful' reply on Delhi-NCR women's safety

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the draft affidavits were ready but did not satisfy him. Justice JB Pardiwala warned that a weak reply would make the whole exercise futile.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiEdited by Puneet PanesarPublished
Justice JB Pardiwala of the Supreme Court (file photo)
Justice JB Pardiwala of the Supreme Court (file photo)Supreme Court of India / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. The Supreme Court extended the Centre's deadline from November 6 to November 23 to file its reply.
  2. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he was not satisfied with the draft affidavits and wanted a model that can be copied across the country.
  3. The next hearing is on December 2, after the amicus has had time to study the reply.

The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Union government until November 23 to file its reply in the suo motu case on women’s safety in Delhi-NCR, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the draft affidavits were ready but he was not satisfied with them.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manmohan had earlier listed the reply for November 6. Mehta asked for more time and told the court, “We want something that can be replicated in the rest of the country.” The bench agreed, but made its expectation plain. “Reply should be meaningful,” Justice Pardiwala said. “If the Solicitor General is not satisfied with the reply they have prepared, the whole exercise will be futile,” he added.

Time for the amicus

Senior Advocate Liz Mathew, the amicus curiae, told the court she would need another week after the reply is filed to go through it. The court listed the case for December 2, 2026, by which time the amicus will have studied the Centre’s reply. Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak also appeared for the Union.

How the case began

The court took up the matter on its own on September 28, 2026, after reports of serious crimes against girls and women in Delhi-NCR, including an alleged gang rape at a park in Aastha Kunj and an alleged sexual assault on a minor girl in a moving sleeper bus. It said public spaces should not turn into high-risk zones because of poor lighting, weak surveillance and lax patrolling.

On October 5 it told Delhi Police to step up beat patrols and to allow only registered and verified drivers to operate buses, cabs, taxis and auto-rickshaws, including those booked through apps. The court has since sought status reports from several authorities, and it had earlier said it was examining institutional failures and not individual guilt.