The rape and murder of a four-year-old child is not merely a crime but the collapse of the most basic covenant that binds a society together. When such brutality is inflicted upon someone so young, so defenceless, the usual language of law and order feels woefully inadequate. The shocking rape and murder of a four-year-old Pune has rattled Maharashtra. Such was the grief and anger that hundreds of protestors blocked the Mumbai–Bengaluru highway for hours. The child’s body, pl