A 14-year-old girl. A festival. Dressed as Radha. On her way to a temple. And then, allegedly, sexual assault.

The details of the case reported from Uttar Pradesh are horrifying. But perhaps what is equally disturbing is how quickly such horror has become part of our daily news cycle.

We see a headline. We are shocked. We demand justice. Social media erupts. Political and religious arguments begin.

And then we scroll.

Another girl. Another assault. Another headline.

Have we become numb?

India has laws such as POCSO specifically designed to protect children from sexual offences. Yet stories involving minors continue to surface with alarming frequency.

The problem is not simply about laws. It is about the society around those laws — how we raise children, how we teach consent and boundaries, how institutions respond, how seriously complaints are taken, and whether perpetrators truly fear consequences.

And in cases like this, the victim can quickly disappear behind the argument.

Her suffering becomes a debate about religion, politics or ideology. We fight over identities while forgetting that at the centre of the story is a child whose life has been traumatised.

We must demand justice without turning a crime into hatred against an entire community. We must demand accountability without turning a child’s suffering into political ammunition.

Most importantly, we must stop treating these stories as content.

A child is not a headline.
A survivor is not a hashtag.
Her trauma is not entertainment.

Perhaps the real test of society isn’t how loudly we react when a horrific story breaks.

It is whether we still care after the cameras leave.

Because if our response becomes:

Another girl. Another assault. Another headline.

Scroll. Shock. Anger. Forget. Repeat.

then we need to ask ourselves not only where our society is heading — but what we are becoming along the way.