One knows all about the stubborn power of India’s patriarchy and its insistence on viewing women as chattel to be seized, possessed or discarded at will.

Even so, there are times when one is shocked anew by the depth of insensitivity to which it can descend and the breezy confidence it exudes in its belief that it has a divine right over the fates of women. This week, while India and the world were debating the government’s momentous decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and downgrade the state and carve it up ...