The most disturbing feature of the recent assaults on teenage girls in Bihar and Delhi is the ease with which ordinary public spaces can be turned into places of fear. A Class 10 girl returning from tuition with a male friend in Jamui in Bihar, was allegedly stopped and assaulted by a group of men. A video of the incident, showing the girl pleading with her attackers and her friend being beaten, spread rapidly online. Days later, in southeast Delhi, a 15-year-old girl who had