Delhi Crime Review

Delhi Crime takes us back to the winter of 2012, a time marked with frustration, pain, and anger in Delhi against the system where the news of the brutal gang rape of 23 year-old Nirbhaya spread spread widely, domestically and internationally, solidifying Delhi’s reputation as the ‘rape capital’. The show will make you revisit the emotions – of anguish, pain and frustration. It is guaranteed to recreate the chill in your spine all of Delhi felt. While many documentries have covered the incident, Delhi Crime has not showcased the incident itself and leaves a lot to the emotion and memory of the viewer. It instead focuses on an an unexplored side of the story – the Delhi Police. While refreshing, it is also problematic. The main character of the show, DCP Vartika Chaturvedi is potrayed as a headstrong officer who would stop to no end to solve this brutal crime and bring justice to the victim and her family. A female character like Vartika is always a breath of fresh air and sends out the message of women empowerment but she never went against the gross statement that a reason for the rape to have happened must be because of getting physically affectionate with her male companion, implying that a woman has no agency and PDA is a valid reason to rape somene. The protesters have been shown as mere obstacles to the investigation, a prop for the show and not as genuine people concerned and angry about the safety of the city they live in. While the police do need not to be completely discounted for their efforts, Delhi Crime goes out of the way to valorise the police