Archive · 23 Sep 2026
Traditional Values and the Hidden Violence Against Women
The article describes two frightening incidents involving teenage girls in India.
In one case, a mob attacked a boy and girl in Bihar.
In another case, men pretending to be police officers attacked a girl in Delhi.
The writer says these crimes are connected to the idea that men can control girls in public.
Some people use tradition and morality to justify restrictions on girls’ clothing, friendships, and movements.
The article says this unfairly blames girls for violence committed by men.
It also notes that the law treats adolescents as children who need protection.
The writer calls for better ways of raising boys and for women to have complete rights over their own bodies.
A mob in Bihar’s Jamui district allegedly assaulted a teenage boy and girl, with the girl being touched inappropriately.
In Delhi, three men posing as police officers restrained a teenage boy and sexually assaulted his 17-year-old female friend.
Both incidents are presented as examples of moral policing that uses traditional values to control women’s public presence and autonomy.
The article argues that adolescent girls are treated as children when their choices are restricted but blamed as adults when they face sexual violence.
National Crime Records Bureau data cited in the article show crimes against children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act rose from 162,449 in 2022 to 177,335 in 2023.
- Who
- Teenage girls and boys were involved in the two incidents; the alleged perpetrators were a mob in Bihar and three men posing as police officers in Delhi.
- What
- The incidents involved assault, inappropriate touching, restraint, and the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl.
- When
- The article does not provide the exact dates of the incidents; it cites crime data for 2022 and 2023.
- Where
- Jamui district in Bihar and a park in Delhi.
- Why
- The article argues that patriarchal moral policing and claims of protecting traditional values enable control, victim-blaming, and violence against women and girls.
- Bihar incident
- A mob intercepted and assaulted a teenage boy and girl in Jamui district; the girl was touched inappropriately.
- Delhi incident
- Three men impersonating police officers restrained a teenage boy and sexually assaulted his 17-year-old female friend.
- Law invoked
- A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was filed in the Delhi case.
- 2022 child-crime cases
- 162,449 cases were recorded under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
- 2023 child-crime cases
- 177,335 cases were recorded under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
- Article’s argument
- Moral policing is described as a system of patriarchal control rather than genuine protection.
- Proposed response
- The writer calls for changes in how boys, families, and communities are raised and organized.