Goa, Sept. 28 -- The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognizance of recent rape and sexual assault cases in Delhi-NCR, including the gangrape and murder of a teenage girl in Swarup Nagar and the alleged sexual assault of a minor inside a moving sleeper bus.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran expressed distress over the recurring incidents and questioned whether law enforcement mechanisms had made meaningful progress since the 2012 Nirbhaya case. Referring to the bus assault, where police reportedly failed to intercept the vehicle during its 47-km journey from Greater Noida to Delhi, the bench said the incident drew "painful parallels" with Nirbhaya.

The court observed that the cases, along with other reported sex...