India, Oct. 11 -- On the night of August 4, a 16-year-old from Mainpuri was allegedly raped inside a moving bus and thenabandoned. An auto-rickshaw driver found her crying and took her to the police. Six weeks later, on September 19, two Class 10 students in Jamui, a girl and a boy were both assaulted - a video of the assault circulated on social media.

Both cases were absorbed into the familiar argument about "women's safety". Nirbhaya was ceremoniously invoked. Bihar's women's commission took cognisance. But the victims were children. This distinction matters because it determines what the State owed them. A woman deserves a safe bus on road and a police force that responds when she is in danger. A child and minor deserve an active gua...