When a boy from a prestigious university shot down his classmate recently—near the dining hall after which he shot himself dead—it sent shockwaves and established a nationwide trend of gun violence against girls for breaking up a relationship. Not just in the North India, where the illegal arms industry is flourishing as people consider them as status symbols or keep them for safety purposes, in South India too young girls are being killed for rejecting a relationship. Our cover story unmasks a gamut of issues, including case studies from across
the country associated with the larger issue of misogyny that permeates not just the minds of “criminals” but also the entire system.

This trend is akin to the mass shootings and killings in the US, where the government encourages the manufacture and sale of guns to ordinary citizens. There is little doubt that the Indian government needs to urgently enforce strict regulation on gun violence, and educational institutions need to counsel students and indoctrinate greater confidence among girl students.

This issue of Outlook also analyses the support of the khap panchayats to the women wrestlers’ protest: is there a change in their patriarchal structure? Another story captures the endless struggles of the people who lost their loved ones in the June 2 Balasore train tragedy.