The Delhi Police today apologised unconditionally to the Delhi High Court for submitting an inadequate report on the status of its investigations into the brutal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus on 16th December.

Yesterday, the court asked why the police appears determined to protect officers responsible for the many lapses that facilitated the attack on the student on a bus that had tinted windows, which is illegal. The court also asked how the bus managed to clear several police check points. The judges wanted to know why the most senior officer, Police Commissioner should not be held accountable for the failure of the police in protecting the student.

Once again, the judges said today that they wanted to know the name of the officers because no one should escape accountability.The court also said that the city needs more than the 600 police vans that patrol the city. It said vehicles on the road must be checked carefully for buses or cars with tinted windows, which is not permissible in Delhi. The court also said that the functions to be performed by police vans must be carefully reviewed.

The government has set up a committee headed by retired High Court judge Usha Mehra to fix accountability for the attack. Separately, the home ministry has ordered an inquiry into allegations by victim's friend that when the couple was lying injured on the road, police officers who showed up wasted time arguing about jurisdiction and which hospital the couple should be moved to.

Meanwhile the Delhi High Court today accepted a fresh status report disclosing the names of police officials
patrolling the area in which the 23-year-old girl was gangraped
in a moving bus, after the city police tendered an apology for not disclosing it earlier