It was with great shock that I looked at the pictures in the media showing the mayhem wreaked in Bengaluru on New Year’s Eve. It was claimed that there were 1,500 policemen deployed on the streets, yet so many young women were molested that night.

The media later had a field day pronouncing it as the state's failure to protect the women. Debates raged on Facebook and Twitter and women’s rights groups slammed it as a violation of the girls’ modesty and infringement of their rights.

I don't justify molestation, neither do I condemn the presence of women on the streets. And I also don’t object to their clothing or the choice of beverage they might have had.