• be violative of the rights of 5 crore children under the Constitution of India because they would be left to the mercy of adult (18 years and above) sexual abusers (numbers from 2001 census)
• mean that the State would punish them for other acts as juveniles (under 18 years) and only for the act of sex they would be adults
• mean that he and the women were not only okay with, but also actively encouraging, male to male prostitution from age 16
• and turning a full and final blind-eye to college-call girl activity
• mean that as a gynaecologist he, and the women (two of whom claimed to be part of a national commission for children) were also fine with an increase in teen pregnancies, unmarried very-young mothers (the marriage age is 18) and an increase in illegitimate children
• and more wombs on rent for the unregulated IVF industry where surrogate women can be ‘cheaply had’ to produce babies
• further endanger children working in factory and domestic situations
• attract more paedophiles to India—as much for its boys as its girl-children—for sex-tourism and pornography

The doctor has daughters. Patriarchy pops up almost automatically when it comes to our children. Earlier, due to it being an agrarian society children were seen as more hands on the fields. There are swathes of Indian society which continue to see children as property, as a future investment for the parents’ old-age. In large cities and neo-rich families, the pendulum is also wildly swinging the other way; from ‘owning’ them to un-owning them. Bringing children into existence is almost being seen a nasty little duty to get out of the way, if the pointed lack of personal interest in the lives of their off-springs is any indication. Pocket money cannot equal parenting.

Meanwhile, other parts of the patriarchal village provide few role-models for our children. Television continues to bombard mixed messages right into living rooms. Bollywood continues to send out male messages. The ubiquitous item song on-screen doesn’t tempt the hero; off-screen Bollywood would rather not know which sick fantasy is triggered and acted out on children or women. In the garb of women’s sexual emancipation, the item song’s message going out is that it’s very fine for girls to barter their sexuality for a career.

Young male ragging in hostels are accepted scenes in films by a popular producer–director duo. An Amitabh Bachchan calls a cancer-ridden child, played by a 9-year-old on screen, ‘sexy’. An Ajay Devgan acts in a song exhorting male-children to ‘bum pey laat’ the servants of the household. An Aamir Khan allows a scene where adult male-bottoms, clad in undies, are exposed to him. The trousers for this scene are dropped in a public place, in full view of a woman; since children tend to be present in movie-theatres, Bollywood would do well to take a look at some of the provisions of POCSO. As should the maker of the ad film for a backpack which shows a male-teen being cooed over by a female-teen while he and the girl’s mother play footsie under the table.