An eleven-year-old girl, a newborn, a still-life, an aged woman, a dead body, a married woman, even boys—the list never ends. The fight for justice remains never-ending.

An 11 Year Old

In 2021, the minor, then 11, was attacked in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj by two men, Pawan and Akash, who allegedly grabbed her breasts, tore her pyjama string and tried to drag her under a culvert. According to the prosecution, she had been walking with her mother when they offered to drop her off on their bike. The two fled the spot when passers-by heard the girl’s screams and came to her rescue.

‘Grabbing breasts, breaking string of pyjama not attempt of rape’: Allahabad High Court.

Four years after filing the case, four brutal years of suffering for the victim, all for an insensitive ruling. In what way, shape, or form can this be considered ‘justice delivered’?

The Indian Penal Code has established several laws against rape and even attempted rape. The law is filled with archaic biases that refuse to recognize sexual violence unless it fits into some textbook definition of brutality. Convictions are rare, trials drag on for years, and survivors are often humiliated in court while their perpetrators walk free on technical grounds.

The two accused of the crime were not charged with attempt to rape. The court observed, “The allegations levelled against the accused, Pawan and Akash, and facts of the case hardly constitute an offence of attempt to rape in the case. To bring out a charge of attempt to rape, the prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation.” When courts rule that groping, molestation, or the snapping of a woman’s clothing isn’t “attempt to rape,” they are not just failing survivors—they are enabling predators. This isn’t a legal technicality; it’s a systemic failure that tells women their trauma isn’t serious enough, their violation isn’t “severe” enough, and that the burden of proof will always be on them.

A Tourist

Police have taken into custody a 25-year-old driver in connection with the alleged rape of a German tourist in Hyderabad. The woman, 25, was allegedly raped on Monday, 31st March, by a man who offered to show her and her German friend around the city in a car. The accused then threatened the woman inside the car and allegedly raped her before fleeing the spot. This single incident, while isolated in terms of geography and individual culpability, casts a long, dark shadow over India’s image on the global stage.

Is India not safe for outsiders? : Rape Cases In India 2025

What’s most heartbreaking is that this crime underscores an ongoing issue that many in India have long demanded be addressed: the need for stricter enforcement, swifter justice, and a cultural shift in how women’s safety is regarded. We must ask ourselves–how many more wake-up calls do we need before we change?

A Baby

A 34-year-old man Jay Halder has been arrested for raping a minor that was only 18 months old. The accused lured the girl by offering her biscuits.

This little girl was left bleeding and unconscious in what should have been the safest place for her; her own home. Instead, it became the scene of an unspeakable horror. A child who should have been wrapped in love and laughter was instead wrapped in bandages and rushed to the hospital, her feeble body marked by monstrous violence.

How do we even begin to speak of justice when the crime itself is so inhumane? What punishment could match this level of depravity?

A Boy

A special court on Tuesday, 4th February 2025, sentenced a 41-year-old Jogeshwari resident to 10 years of imprisonment for raping a 14-year-old boy in his neighbourhood for over two years. The child used to deliver clothes to the accused, a washerman. A complaint was filed by the child’s father in 2017.

The incident came to light in December 2016, when the child began to show signs of stress and neglected his studies. On January 8, 2017, the boy was sent to deliver clothes to the accused’s place. After returning home that night, he refused to eat or talk. Two days later, he was reportedly caught by his sister while he was drinking phenyl in their kitchen at night. He was taken to the Trauma Care Hospital for treatment when the Dilasa project counsellors talked with him. During this interaction, he disclosed being sexually assaulted by the washerman.

Nobody is safe: Rape Cases In India 2025

For the longest time, conversations about sexual violence have focused–rightfully, on the experiences of women and girls. But they’ve often overlooked the pain and trauma that boys and men face too. This case underlines how abuse doesn’t discriminate. It affects everyone– children, adults, men, women, those who are queer; nobody is immune. And what makes it worse is how long these victims often suffer in silence.

This isn’t just news. It’s reality.

God forbid an eleven-year-old escaped from the wiles of evil that tried to consume her. God forbid that a woman, or a girl, finds an escape from losing her innocence. God forbid the case is brought to light, to reveal the darkness in the world.

Despite having a Constitution that guarantees equality, dignity, and protection against violence, the reality for women in India is a nightmare of loopholes, delayed justice, and blatantly misogynistic judicial interpretations. Justice in this country isn’t just slow; it’s mockery. Survivors are forced to relive their trauma in court, their character is questioned, their motives doubted while the accused is given every possible benefit of the doubt. And society? It moves on. The unfamiliar uproar only lasts until the next headline, but for the survivors and their families, the nightmare never ends.

How many more daughters, sons, sisters, brothers and mothers suffer before we see change upon the imprints of an unjust society? How many more cases will it take before the system protects its people instead of shielding criminals and justifying their actions? Justice delayed may be justice denied, but justice denied is a crime of its own. And this is our reality that needs to be cut short of all of its gore in glory.