New Delhi, Sept. 28 -- Jamui and the Kalkaji, two incidents just days apart, have shaken the nation and drawn women's safety back into public conversation.

In Bihar's Jamui district, a purported video on social media went viral, showing a minor girl and her male companion allegedly being harassed and molested by a group of youths in Jamui. Days later in Delhi, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men near Lady Shri Ram College for Women, after visiting Kalkaji Mandir with a male friend and entering nearby Aastha Kunj Park on her birthday.

Women have long carried the weight of being on alert the moment they step out of their homes, and are still left asking for the basic right of "freedom" to use public spaces.

Following...