In the recent times, two gruesome, cold-blooded crimes have shocked the countrymen. In one of them, a young man was allegedly pushed off a hill to death by his own fiancée and her boyfriend in Pune, and in the other, a minor girl was brutally raped and murdered in West Bengal. Angry mob killed one of the rape accused, and days later, another suspect died in a police encounter before he could face trial. These two cases look nothing alike on the surface, but together, they offer a useful lesson: Our Constitution and our laws promise equal protection to every citizen, regardless of gender. The challenge lies not in the law itself, but in how consistently and swiftly it is applied and enforced on the ground. A young girl was let down by the safety net that should have protected her.

 

And the men accused in these case were let down too, in a different way, when public anger and haste took the place of a fair trial. For years, conversations about safety in India have rightly focused on women, given how common violence against them remains. But this focus, valuable as it is, sometimes leaves out another truth: Men can also be victims of crime, betrayal and mob violence, and their cases do not always receive the same urgency from the public or the system. When a woman is the victim, there is outrage and loud demands for justice.

 

When a man is the victim, or even just the accused, the response is often quieter, and sometimes clouded by assumptions of guilt before any court has ruled. The point here is simple. A crime is a crime, no matter who commits it or who suffers from it, and every accused person is entitled to the due process our legal system guarantees. A life lost to violence is a tragedy, whether the victim is a young girl or a grown man. And when an accused person is killed by a mob or in an encounter before guilt is proven, that too undermines the rule of law that protects us all. Respecting the law means trusting it to do its work, even when emotions run high.

 

This is not an argument against continuing to fight for women’s safety, which remains vital. It is simply a reminder that fair treatment under the law should never depend on gender. What our society needs is greater faith in our legal institutions, along with faster, more consistent enforcement, not selective outrage that applies to some cases and not others. If these two cases teach us anything, it is that true progress will come not from championing one gender’s safety alone, but from strengthening a system that already promises justice to everyone, and ensuring that promise reaches every citizen, equally and without delay. By Shiwali Deshpande Dr Ambedkar College of Law