India, Sept. 30 -- A Supreme Court bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, on Sept 28, took suo motu cognisance of sexual offences across the national capital - a minor was gang-raped in a park last week - and held the police and Delhi government responsible for systemic failure. This is welcome, but also too late and achieves too little. After all, in 2019, while taking cognisance of the rise in sexual violence against children, the SC issued notices to all states, Union Territories, and High Courts to review investigation timelines and forensic infrastructure. Fast Track courts were set up under the SC directives, ironically using the Nirbhaya Fund, which had stayed grossly underutilised until then in creating robust infrastructure to enhance the security and safety of women and compensating the victims of sexual assault. The fund itself was set up 13 years ago, at the same time that laws on sexual violence were amended following some of the Justice JS Verma Committee reports. But despite that, and the court's interventions, National Crime Records Bureau data shows no let up in crimes against women and minors. According to government figures shared in the Lok Sabha in 2025, the fast track courts, too,have underperformed as they take over four yearsto conclude rape and POCSO trials. Clearly, judicial recommendations and government fund allocations have failed so farto lower overall crime rates. Bureaucraticbottlenecks and indifference have managed toupend almost all well-intentioned plans to ensure safety for almost 700 million citizens of India. Thisis not a small lapse on the State's part. Thecomplicity of successive governments at theCentre as well as in the states in poor on-ground execution ought not be underestimated. A structural overhaul is needed; accountability should not end at merely allocating resources and announcing reforms. The judiciary must ensure that lapses on the part of the police or civil administration in preventing and investigating crimes are punished. The impunity with which sexual offenders operate emanates from these very lapses. A suo motu cognisance, therefore, must be followed by exemplary consequences for those who fail....