Jammu & Kashmir's Unfinished Reckoning with Sexual Violence

The article examines Jammu and Kashmir’s painful, unfinished reckoning with sexual violence, especially against children, through recent cases in Bandipora, Baramulla and Kishtwar. It argues that rape is not only a legal offence but a profound betrayal of trust and personhood, exposing failures in families, schools, institutions and social attitudes that prioritise honour, reputation and spectacle over survivors’ dignity, safety and justice. It calls for moral introspection, reliable data, institutional accountability and a culture that treats consent, autonomy and protection of children as non-negotiable responsibilities, rather than burden…