India, Sept. 5 -- Safety in private interstate sleeper buses cannot depend only on rules written on paper. It requires continuous verification, technology-enabled monitoring, real-time intervention, institutional accountability and credible deterrence.

The recent concerns surrounding sleeper buses operating with fully drawn curtains expose a larger weakness in our public safety system. The issue is not simply whether curtains are permitted or whether a vehicle possesses a valid permit. The real question is: Can enforcement agencies detect a potentially unsafe situation before it becomes a crime? And this concern extends well beyond sleeper buses.

Private buses, school vans, school buses and other contracted passenger vehicles carry some...