AHMEDABAD, Gujarat — The first time I spoke with Hanif Lakdawala, about a month ago, the 67-year-old Gujarati doctor sounded calm, but his frustration over the treatment of Muslims in the run-up to assembly polls in the state was palpable even on the phone.

When I met him in Ahmedabad on Friday, a day ahead of the Assembly Elections, much of the calm had worn off and the public health activist, in soft tones, chastised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shailesh Mehta who recently said that he would ensure that the town of Dabhoi would not turn into Dubai if he was elected a lawmaker.

The openly-communal comment about Dubai alludes to what some BJP leaders have said during rallies about capping the Muslim population that many Hindus see as a threat to their community.

"For the majority of people in Gujarat, hatred for Muslims has become part of their consciousness. They are born with hatred for Muslims," the doctor said.

Not only has Lakdawala worked to improve public health in urban slums for four decades, he is famous for rehabilitation work in the aftermath of the 2002 communal riots that displaced tens of thousands of Muslims. The four decades that he has spent in the field have also made a him the go-to guy for journalists and politicians. Every election, his office is crowded with reporters picking his brain about the Muslim community, while party workers seek his help in reaching out to the community.

I had returned for a conversation with Lakdawala, driven by curiosity about whether he had made up his mind about voting for the Congress which had gone through its campaigning for Gujarat elections without uttering the "M" word, taking the Muslim vote for granted and publicizing its Hindu credentials.

After witnessing Rahul Gandhi's temple-visiting spree, without a single visit to a Muslim neighbourhood, let alone a dargah or mosque, would the NOTA (none of the above) button on electronic voting machines end up being a viable choice for Lakdawala?

The doctor minced no words to relay his unhappiness.

"What Muslim vote? Does Muslim life even matter in India," he said, registering his horror at the hacking and burning alive of a Muslim man by a Hindu who suspected that he was involved with a Hindu woman.

The doctor then recalled the deaths of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in Alwar and sixteen-year-old Junaid in a Haryana-bound train. "I don't think Muslim life matters," he concluded.

"This is an Assembly election. AAP has no chances here. The most important thing is for us to defeat the BJP and only Congress can defeat the BJP".

The furrows on his forehead deepened as he told me that he had always voted for the Congress Party, with the exception of the 2014 Assembly election when he chose the Aam Aadmi Party candidate because he was "honest."

"This is an Assembly election. AAP has no chances here. The most important thing is for us to defeat the BJP and only Congress can defeat the BJP," he said. "We don't have a choice. We just don't have a choice."

Universal Adult Franchise

In Gujarat, Muslims, who make up nine percent of the population, have been politically sidelined especially after the BJP came to power in 1995.

From 12 lawmakers in 1980, the number of Muslims in the state legislature has been steadily declining. In 2002, three Muslims were elected as lawmakers, five in 2007 and two in 2012. In 2017, the Congress has fielded six Muslims candidates, while the BJP does not have any.

In this election, the Muslims are calling themselves the "taken-for-granted community" because the Congress believes them to have no choice.

There is a contradiction when it comes to what the Congress is preaching and practicing.

At the national level, the Congress is pushing a secularism versus fundamentalism narrative, but the party's campaign in Gujarat has been a reaction to the BJP's narrative that one needs only the Hindus to win.

"Congress is soft Hindutva that we know. Even in 2002, there were some Congress people who were involved in looting and burning. The only difference is that Congress being a conglomeration of people with different ideologies we always have some people whom we can go and talk. In BJP, if you ask me today, I don't know any BJP fellow who I can go and talk. They are not reaching out to the Muslim community," said Lakdawala.

There is no doubt that the Congress, led by a more confident Rahul Gandhi, has rattled the BJP in its own bastion. Some analysts believe this to be neck-and-neck contest.

On the one hand, the Congress has focused on the Patels, successfully tapping into the anger that demonetisation has unleashed among the trader community. On the other hand, the Grand Old Party has steered clear of the Muslims, doing and saying nothing that could be interpreted as appeasing the minority.

Many Congress leaders say that the party's policy is only a means to an end because there is no other way of beating the BJP in a polarised state like Gujarat.

Others believe it to be setting the trend for future state elections and the national election. The Congress' strategy going forward would be to exploit anger against the the Modi government, focusing on issues like the economy, unemployment, caste atrocities and farmer distress.

In the battle of Gujarat, the Muslims have been made to feel entirely irrelevant and that is extremely dangerous. In a democracy, where people express themselves by voting, rendering impotent a community's Universal Adult Franchise is a sure shot way of radicalizing it.

In Gujarat, Lakdawala said, "Universal adult franchise does not mean anything for Muslims. Our vote does not matter."

1985....2002....2017

Unlike the majority of Muslims in Ahmedabad who live in "ghettos" populated with other Muslims, Lakdawala and his family has always lived in localities with mostly Hindus. But he can recall the exact moment that he first became conscious of being a Muslim. The year was 1985 and he was a 35-year-old medical practitioner in Ahmedabad.

"I was coming out of my home in a Hindu locality. My neighbor came and told me 'don't go out today'. I said why, the communal violence was at least eight to ten kilometers away. I said it is far away. But he said 'everyone knows that you are Muslim and there is a danger.' That is the first time I realized that I was Muslim and people thought that I was a different person and there is threat to me even if the communal violence is far away," Lakdawala said.

"That was the first time I realized that nothing else matters, my qualifications, my work, nothing matters in this society. In Gujarat, it is only religion. And slowly that identity of being Muslim was reinforced by various factors. We could not rent a house. Even in 1985, it was with difficulty that we could find a house but when we tried to shift to other localities, no one was ready to give us (accommodation). They flatly refused. It was only through a friend who was willing to give us a house and it was because there was a South Indian community living there that we got," the doctor told me.

When riots broke out in 2002, Lakdawala and his family sought refuge with their Hindu friends, moving from house to house. "We would move after a day or two so as not to burden any one family," he said. "The 2002 riots were bad. It was horrible."

"We would move after a day or two so as not to burden any one family."

The riots broke out after 59 Hindus activists, on their way back to Gujarat from the site of the demolished Babri masjid in Ayodhya on a train, were burnt to death by a suspected Muslim mob in February 2002. It triggered one of the country's worst religious pogroms that resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, in retaliatory violence.

If those episodes of religious violence made Lakdawala scared for his physical safety, the 2017 Assembly election have made him feel invisible.

While refusing to acknowledge the Muslims of Gujarat during its campaign, the Congress is now engaged in damage control by discreetly reaching out to the community. The party has deployed Muslim leaders from outside the state to reassure members from the community that they have not been forgotten.

Lakdawala, who was recently approached by one such Muslim leader, is appalled at the need to maintain secrecy.

"It is very humiliating. It is very humiliating for Muslims," he said.

"Congress would at least go to Muslims to get votes when there were elections, not secretly ask us to spread the word. Even though many Muslims will be happy to play a role in defeating BJP, there is no denying that is very hurtful," he said.

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A 21st-century movie based on the mythological-fiction of the 16th century about a 14th-century queen has ruffled political feathers in India. The members of Karni Sena, a politico-cultural group of Rajputs, man-handled Sanjay Leela Bhansali, movie's director, vandalized cinema halls and openly threatened a high-intensity violence if the movie is released. The protesters allege that the movie distorts the Rajput history, glorifies a barbaric invader as a lover and a brave warrior. Rumours are galore that the movie shows a love-affair between the Queen Padmavati and the invader Allaudin Khiljhi.

However, the truth is far more complex than what appears on the surface. Eminent journalists like Dr. Ved Pratap Vedic and Rajat Sharma have stated that the movie has absolutely nothing that is objectionable and insulting to the pride and culture of Rajputs. The fact that the above-mentioned journalists did not find anything objectionable with the movie shows that the ongoing agitation is not just about the alleged distortion of history and restoring the Hindu pride.

The entire saga smacks of ulterior motives which do not appear to be very clean.

The entire saga smacks of ulterior motives which do not appear to be very clean. So far the main agitators like Karni Sena and their leaders have not shown any gesture that shows their intent for any rational dialogue to sort out the issue in the light of evidence. Gujarat government has banned the movie; Yogi Adityanath has condemned the movie and even the Congress-led Punjab government has also banned the movie. It seems there are strong political stakes in the controversy.

Gujarat elections are on and Gujarat has roughly 6% Rajputs. Traditionally, they have been aligned with Congress. BJP for obvious political reasons preferred the Patidar community as they are numerically superior. Off late, because of the Patidar community's angst with BJP over the reservation issue, BJP has been wading in troubled waters which resulted in a major dent in BJP's traditional Patidar vote bank. Further, because of demonetization, the business community is already annoyed with Modi.

After Modi's departure to Delhi, the performance of the state government has been lacklustre. Modi's successor Anandi Ben did not enjoy the same popularity among the state BJP cadre as Modi did. Her handling of the Patel agitation further alienated the Patidars. As a result, she had to be dispensed with and replaced by Vijay Rupani. But the succession was not without frictions and controversies.

Since 2002, in the absence of any major communal riot, it has been difficult to cash upon the communal sentiments of Hindus for electoral gains. No one denies the fact that BJP has been losing ground in Gujarat ever since Modi has assumed the Prime Ministerial mentor. But Modi can't afford to lose Gujarat. It is indeed a prestige point for Modi, being his home state. Further, if BJP wins Gujarat, it will be a big psychological boost confirming the faith of the people in the leadership of the Modi in his home turf.

This psychological boost will be a boon for 2019 national elections. A prominent journalist from Dainik Bhaskar media group told this author that in the Padmavati controversy BJP sees an opportunity to rake up Hindu nationalism and dormant communal sentiments of Gujaratis. This controversy might put to silence disturbing questions on demonetization and job-creation, driving away people's attention from drab economic worries to volatile and passionate concerns of nationalism, Hindutva and a larger objective of regressive course correction in history. Further, in such difficult times if minor appeasement baits to Padmavati protestors swings even a small portion of Rajput votes to BJP, then, politically it could be the deal worth going for.

In such difficult times if minor appeasement baits to Padmavati protestors swings even a small portion of Rajput votes to BJP, then, politically it could be the deal worth going for.

Superficially, the entire drama may look like a display of power by the fanatic fringe of Hindu rightwing. Generally, among the left-of-the-center public intellectuals, the tendency will be to perceive the entire episode as an assertion of fascist Hindu rightwing elements under the allegedly favorable BJP government.

However, the truth might actually be far more complex and nuanced. After Indira Gandhi stopped privy purses, and with the strengthening of the grassroots democracy in India, the Rajput community faced a major decline in their socio-political clout. Their numbers have declined fast in the government services.

This has a led to a feeling of insecurity among them and some shrewd community leaders have been smart enough to cash upon such sentiments to advance their political careers. With these violent protests, they want to show that they have the street power and they can bring the state machinery to its knees. This author feels that this agitation has more to do with caste-based identity politics of Rajputs then with core ideology of Hindutva.

And, one can witness a revisionist tendency and a crude form of cultural assertion among the Rajputs in myriad ways. The young Rajput lad Om Banna has almost acquired a sacred status because of some supernatural stories surrounding his death and now he has become a strong instrument of political mobilization. Recently, over the police encounter of a dreaded criminal Anandpal, a Rajput, the community leaders made a big hue and cry and the matter had turned into a political hot-cake.

Caste Dynamics

One can find amateur historians trying to prove Maharana Pratap's victory over Akbar in Haldighati for petty political interests. Hence, at a deeper level there are very subtle and strong casteist undercurrents but since the Rajputs are Hindus, it becomes easier in the existing jingoistic socio-political milieu, for the Hindutva fringe and their twitter brigades to pile on, for socio-political gains.

But, the intellectuals have to be honest here. A broad-brushing analysis that this is just a fascist Hindutva business is very superficial and smacks of their personal hatred for the ongoing ruling establishment. Any honest and objective inquiry will explore the caste dynamics and dig into the socio-cultural roots of such developments.

Was Padmini a real character or a fictitious character that has acquired a sacred status?

According to the written sources, Padmavati is not mentioned in any of the historical sources of Rajasthan. The character finds its first mention in a text named Padmawat written 250 years after the Khiljhi's Chittor invasion, by a Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi who lived in Faizabad, separated from Mewar by more than 1000 kilometers. And, it is basically a Sufi text that cannot be treated as a source of political history of Mewar.

But then it deserves to be mentioned that Padmini might be a fictitious character but the practice of Jauhar by Rajput females is a historical fact. The Rajput females captured in wars were often ill-treated, their dignity violated and they were either sold in the slave markets of central Asia or confined to Harem of invader kings. In order to escape that humiliation and protect their honor the females often immolated themselves which came to be known as Jauhar.

Distortion Of Historical Facts?

In this entire saga, the main issue that has often been raised is the distortion of historical facts. This issue could have been seen in an objective manner too but most often such issues immediately acquire a saffron color and become a question of Hindu identity. This is so because Hindus feel that Marxist historians in India have maligned their heroes like Sivaji and Maharana Pratap and made heroes out of bigots and murderers like Aurangzeb, Tipu Sultan and Allauddin Khaljhi.

I have myself studied in the elitist bastions of higher education in India and found them to be left-dominated. During the last five to six decades of Congress rule, they got the patronage from the establishment. The left-liberal cluster that is derisively called as 'pseudo-secular' these days, had turned dictatorial and allegedly banished the alternative schools of thoughts from the academia.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why the right-wing forces in India got the popular support. They were successful in spreading the message across the wider sections of the majority community that for petty political reasons minority appeasement has crossed the limits and it would result in wiping out the socio-cultural roots of Hindus. In this entire controversy, one comes across vandalism by lumpen elements holding state machinery to ransom. Even their baseless arguments and political chicanery get a pass because at deeper levels Hindus feel that their history has been tampered with.

In this entire controversy, one comes across vandalism by lumpen elements holding state machinery to ransom. Even their baseless arguments and political chicanery get a pass because at deeper levels Hindus feel that their history has been tampered with.

Finally, a democratic and secular state like India cannot allow a group of violent elements to ride roughshod over the constitutional guarantees like freedom of expression.

We are setting a very wrong precedent by allowing such Taliban-styled fringe groups to acquire social legitimacy and a political clout. In a multicultural society like India, such violent extremism has no place if we are to keep our communal harmony intact and sustain ourselves as a vibrant democracy, safeguarding basic human rights.

(The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.)

It was one of the best-kept secrets of the decade: When Kensington Palace announced on Nov. 27 that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were engaged, they surprised the world, as it was generally assumed that the couple, who had only been dating for a year and a half, would wait until the new year to announce that they would wed.

Now, one of the people closely involved in the engagement is speaking out on how hard it was to keep that secret.

The designer of Markle's gorgeous engagement ring — a trio of diamonds on a yellow gold band — recently told Hello magazine that making the ring was the "biggest and hardest" secret he has ever had to keep.

David Thomas, a jeweler at Cleave and Company Court Jewellers, also refused to discuss how much Harry paid for the ring, which features a large diamond sourced from Botswana, and two smaller diamonds which were from a tiara that once belonged to Princess Diana.

"Jewelers are like doctors: we never discuss our patients," Thomas explained.

He also won't make replicas. Unlike the Duchess of Cambridge's engagement ring, which has been copied the world over, Cleave and Company will not make reproduction rings for their customers.

"We're not going to be making replicas of it," Stephen Connelly, director of Cleave and Company, told Hello. "If you want a ring, then we'll design you a different one."

But if you are itching to get a lookalike ring, there are many options. "We are expecting Meghan's yellow gold band will spur its own increase in popularity for yellow gold in particular," Chloe Nalbantian, style director at wedding app Bridebook.co.uk, told HuffPost UK, which found some gorgeous alternatives.

But of course, these rings won't have the same sentimentality as Markle's. As Harry explained during the couple's first TV interview just after they appeared at Kensington Palace for a photo call, he purposely kept his mum in mind to "make sure that she's with us on this — on this crazy journey together" as he was designing the ring.

"It's so important to me to know that [Diana's] a part of this," noted Harry. "I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down."

Markle also knows how unique her engagement ring is, explaining in the broadcast interview, "It's incredible... It's incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and it's perfect."

Botswana, of course, is where we now know the prince and Markle went on their third "date," which ended up being a camping trip. "It was three, maybe four weeks later [after the second date] that I managed to persuade her to come join me in Botswana and we camped out with each other under the stars... then we were really by ourselves," Harry said in their TV interview.

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Countless Indian women have faced harassment of some form or the other from male passengers on flights, and as often is the case, the abuser is rarely apprehended. Dangal actress Zaira Wasim went through one such a nightmarish experience on a Delhi-Mumbai flight. A middle-aged man who sat behind her, kept his feet on her armrest and ran it over her back, neck and shoulders as she struggled to document the violation and draw the attention of the crew.

"The lights were dimmed, so it was even worse. It continued for another 5-10 minutes and then I was sure of it. He kept nudging my shoulder and continued to move his foot up and down my back and neck," Wasim wrote on an Instagram live story last night. She posted a photo of a man's foot and said, because the cabin lights were dimmed she could not get a better photo as evidence of the trauma she suffered.

Somebody misbehaved with her in the flight 😤 Strict actions must be taken on this incident 😡 OMG she is Crying 😢 . . . . . . . . #repost #flightattendant #misbehaving #terrible #actions #kashmir #india #indian #fools #live #zaira #zairawasim #bolllywood #video #viral #follow4follow #like4like #airport #fans

A post shared by zaira wasim (@zaira_wasimworld) on Dec 9, 2017 at 2:24pm PST

She is seen breaking down in the video and saying "It's not done at all."

In a statement, airline company Air Vistara today said it was investigating the incident. However it's unclear if there has been any effort to apprehend the suspected molester whose details are undoubtedly with the airline.

We @airvistara have seen the reports regarding @ZairaWasimmm experience with another customer on board last night. We are carrying out detailed investigation and will support Zaira in every way required. We have zero tolerance for such behaviour.

— Vistara (@airvistara) December 10, 2017

Official Statement: Update #2 pic.twitter.com/9VQOjzGTOK

— Vistara (@airvistara) December 10, 2017

We @airvistara have seen the reports regarding @ZairaWasimmm experience with another customer on board our flight last night. We are investigating fully and will support Zaira in every way required. We have zero tolerance for this kind of thing.

— Sanjiv Kapoor (@TheSanjivKapoor) December 9, 2017

Sources in the airline told ANI that Wasim "had not brought the incident to notice of the crew till the flight commenced descent. After landing the crew inquired about the incident and asked Zaira and her mother if they want to file a complaint but they denied."

However, Tuhin Mishra, Wasim's manager, told news channels that they had in fact approached cabin crew, "but they didn't act".

"We have written to Vistara," he said.

Condemning the incident as "shameful", Maharashtra State Commission for Women's chairperson, Vijaya Rahatkar, said MSCW will direct DGCA to conduct an inquiry in the matter. "We will inquire into the steps taken by Vistara to address the complaint. There should be inquiry about why the cabin crew did not help her. We have directed the Mumbai Police to look into the matter immediately."

Wasim, 17, won a National Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a young Geeta Phogat in the film Dangal.

As more and more women step out of their homes to explore a wider degree of independence, sexual crimes against them have also steadily risen, enabled by a societal culture rooted in patriarchy and male insecurity. A poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found that Delhi is still the "rape capital" of India with a steady rise in sexual violence – 2,155 rapes were recorded in Delhi in 2016 - a rise of 67 per cent from 2012.

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A 39-year-old man, identified as Vikas Sachdev, a senior executive of a media and entertainment company, has been arrested and charged for allegedly molesting Dangal actress Zaira Wasim on a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Saturday.

Mumbai Mirror quoted police sources as saying that he often travelled on the route.

Sachdev has been booked under section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) since Wasim is 17 years old, a report in the Economic Times said.

Wasim has accused Sachdev, who sat behind her on Air Vistara's flight to Mumbai, of keeping his feet on her armrest and running it over her back, neck and shoulders as she struggled to document the violation and draw the attention of the crew.

"The lights were dimmed, so it was even worse. It continued for another 5-10 minutes and then I was sure of it. He kept nudging my shoulder and continued to move his foot up and down my back and neck," Wasim wrote on an Instagram live story. She posted a photo of a man's foot and said, because the cabin lights were dimmed she could not get a better photo as evidence of the trauma she suffered.

She is seen crying in the video and saying "It's not done at all."

In a statement, Air Vistara said it was investigating the incident.

Sources in the airline told ANI that Wasim "had not brought the incident to notice of the crew till the flight commenced descent. After landing the crew inquired about the incident and asked Zaira and her mother if they want to file a complaint but they denied." However, Tuhin Mishra, Wasim's manager, told news channels that they had in fact approached cabin crew, "but they didn't act".

Condemning the incident as "shameful", Maharashtra State Commission for Women's chairperson, Vijaya Rahatkar, said MSCW will direct DGCA to conduct an inquiry in the matter. Several political parties have reacted to the incident.

Wasim won a National Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a young Geeta Phogat in the film Dangal.

As more and more women step out of their homes to explore a wider degree of independence, sexual crimes against them have also steadily risen, enabled by a societal culture rooted in patriarchy and male insecurity. A poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found that Delhi is still the "rape capital" of India with a steady rise in sexual violence – 2,155 rapes were recorded in Delhi in 2016 - a rise of 67 per cent from 2012.

In a horrific case of violence against a minor, a 15-year-old survivor of blood cancer was raped twice in a span of two hours by three men in the the outskirts of Lucknow.

The police told Hindustan Times that on Saturday that the girl was first raped by her neighbour and his friend, then by a man who she sought help from after being raped.

Reports suggest that the passerby has been arrested by the police, while the other two accused are still on the run.

The incident took place when the girl stepped out to by groceries.

The Indian Express quoted a police officer as saying, "While the girl, a patient of initial stage blood cancer, was on her way, an acquaintance told her he would drop her to the market on his bike. But instead of the market, he took her to an abandoned puliya (small bridge), where he and one of his friends allegedly raped her and left her on the roadside."

When the girl tried to get help from the third accused, identified as Virendra Yadav of Banthara, instead of dropping her home he raped her and left her on the roadside.

The Hindustan Times report says that the residents of the area spotted the girl and informed the police after which her parents were informed.

The Times of India reports that girls father lodged a complaint at the Sarojininagar police station on Sunday.

The report said that the other two accused, named by the girl, are Shubham and Sumit.

Reports suggest that the girl has gone through medical check ups and is also going to be sent for counselling.

The Indian Express report said an FIR has been registered under Section 376-D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5G/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Another horrific report of rape and murder from Haryana of a five-year-old girl confirms that despite the cyclical media and civil society outrage, cities continue to be unsafe for women and children. In the latest case of sexual violence, the child from Haryana's Hisar was raped and tortured to death. A wooden stick was found thrust in her vagina with such force that it caused serious injuries to her uterus and intestine – a horrific reminder of the Delhi gang-rape of a physiotherapist on a moving bus in December in 2012.

"I slept at 9 pm along with my children. When I woke up in the morning, my daughter wasn't there... I couldn't find her. I asked the neighbours, they said they haven't seen her. Then someone told me that your daughter has been killed. I got to know about this at 7 am," the girl's mother told reporters.

The girl's body was found in a pool of blood with injuries on her shoulders, waist and nose. Police have not ruled out gang-rape but no one has been arrested yet.

Haryana: A 5-year-old girl was allegedly raped and brutally murdered by inserting a wooden stick into her private parts yesterday in Hisar's Uklana village pic.twitter.com/tEaGwkUmZv

— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2017

Reetu Gupta, the doctor who conducted the post mortem, told India Today: "The victim died due to the torture perpetrated by inserting wooden stick into her private parts. The stick was inserted with force which not only caused serious injuries inside uterus but also in the intestine."

The report said the family of the victim has refused to cremate the body until the culprit is arrested.

The family was living in a make-shift tent and the child's father, a rag-picker, was away in Delhi.

Five years ago, on the night of 16 December, Jyoti Singh, 23, was returning from a movie in Delhi with a male friend when the couple was assaulted by six people on the bus they had boarded. Singh was raped and an iron rod was inserted into her vagina, that ruptured her intestine. Her friend was thrashed and the two were thrown out of the moving bus. She died of her injuries. The case resulted in an outpouring of anger and led to crucial changes in India's rape laws.

A National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report for 2015 showed that Haryana recorded the highest rate of gang-rapes per lakh woman population in the country, followed by Rajasthan.

JK Rowling, one of the internet's sanest voices, a writer who has consistently been a vociferous champion of women's rights and social equality, recently broke her silence on a controversy that has shadowed her for a while now – the casting of Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in Warner Brothers' Fantastic Beasts series.

For those not in the know, in 2016, Depp's personal life took a tumultuous turn as his then wife, actress Amber Heard, accused him of physically and verbally abusing her during the course of their nearly 4-year-long relationship. In May 2016, she filed for divorce, even providing photographic evidence of physical assault, after Depp struck her face with a cellphone.

Heard's friend, iO Tillet Wright, who witnessed the violence first-hand, in an essay for Refinery 29, wrote, 'The reports of violence started with a kick on a private plane, then it was shoves and the occasional punch, until finally, in December, she (Heard) described an all-out assault and she woke up with her pillow covered in blood. I know this because I went to their house. I saw the pillow with my own eyes. I saw the busted lip and the clumps of hair on the floor."

In her sworn court declaration, Heard stated, "Johnny has a long-held and widely-acknowledged public and private history of drug and alcohol abuse. He has a short fuse. He is often paranoid and his temper is extremely scary for me as it has proven many times to be physically dangerous and/or life-threatening to me."

The Los Angeles judge hearing the case found the evidence compelling enough to grant Heard a restraining order against Depp.

After their divorce, Heard and Depp issued a statement, which Heard re-posted after Rowling' wrote her defense of Depp.

For the record, this was our FULL joint statement.To pick&choose certain lines & quote them out of context, is not right.Women, stay strong. pic.twitter.com/W7Tt6A3ROj

— Amber Heard (@realamberheard) December 8, 2017

After Heard's claims dominated the news cycle, Potter fans expressed genuine concern about the casting of Depp in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Rowling, until now, had maintained a stoic silence on the matter even as her Twitter feed was cluttered with fans expressing a desire to get him removed. Rowling never said a word. In fact, when one Twitter user, @hobbitlindsey, questioned Depp's participation in the movies and Rowling's silence on the controversy, she was blocked by the author, a rather uncharacteristic move.

JK ROWLING BLOCKED ME pic.twitter.com/UaTkeqAMsW

— Lindsey (@hobbitlindsey) November 29, 2017

As someone who has never shied away from engaging politically (she was a vocal critic of Brexit and routinely calls out Trump) or shaming sexist trolls, haters, bigots, xenophobes, and body-shamers, Rowling's meek defense of Depp is uniquely disappointing, convenient and inconsistent with her fiercely liberal and progressive worldview.

Here's Rowling's complete statement:

As we've seen, in a post-Weinstein era, there's a significantly higher consciousness of the effects and implications of male violence and sexual abuse. At least in the entertainment industry, (Al Franken may have grudgingly resigned but don't forget accused paedophile Roy Moore is still running for Senate and Donald Trump is still the President of the United States), there's a legitimate reckoning as more and more women come forward to share stories of abuse and an increasing number of powerful men face very real consequences for their past actions.

In that context, Rowling's statement, where she asserts that she's 'not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies' is a massive setback for what feels like a legitimate and much-needed revolution. When she says, she's 'genuinely happy' with her choice, she has chosen to disbelieve a woman who suffered violently at Depp's hands. When she selectively quotes Heard on having expressed a desire to 'move on,' she's consciously ignoring the part where Heard wrote that 'neither party made false accusations.'

It's one thing to call out perpetuators of abuse when there's nothing personally at stake, but quite another when there are serious financial as well as social ramifications.

It's one thing to call out perpetuators of abuse when there's nothing personally at stake, but quite another when there are serious financial as well as social ramifications. The women who came forward to share their stories risked all of that, and much more, and Rowling's support of Depp belittles their courage and insidiously stifles their collective voices.

It also delegitimizes their struggle.

Rowling, in the past, has made her position clear on Weinstein, although not directly.

On 11 October, she quote tweeted a tweet from Trump's Former Deputy Assistant, Sebastian Gorka, where he said, 'THINK: If Weinstein had obeyed @VP Pence's rules for meeting with the opposite sex, none of those poor women would ever have been abused.'

(Pence's rules for meeting with women is to never do it alone)

Rowling responded to it, saying, "If the only thing preventing a man committing sexual assault is the presence of witnesses, he's too dangerous to be at liberty."

But calling out a sexual predator when there are no real financial or legal consequence to you is far easier than calling out an abuser, whose inclusion or exclusion, directly affects your economic advancement.

Times such as these are the true test of how far you can go to defend your ideals and more importantly, how consistent your actions are with your projected ideals. A moral dilemma such as the one Rowling faced -- to choose between perceived commercial gains or take an ethical stand -- reveals if she believes in championing causes or it's mere lip-service/a PR exercise.

Today, Rowling is in a position of power, where she can influence the decision of a mammoth studio to get Depp dropped and replaced with another, a more credible A-lister – if that's one of the reasons to continue having him in the film. By doing so, she could've set perhaps the most solid example, after Kevin Spacey's firing from one of Netflix's top-performing show, House of Cards, and emboldened the efforts of several hundred women who still fear calling out their aggressors for the fear of sabotaging their careers.

And if Netflix can act, why can't Warner Bros? And it's not just Netflix, it's a whole lot of corporate giants who're part of the awakening.

In an unprecedented move, Sony allowed Ridley Scott to reshoot the Kevin Spacey-starrerAll The Money in the World after the film was fully complete. NBC fired top-ratings drawer, Today show host Matt Lauer, Amazon dropped its studio head, Roy Price. HBO has cut all ties with Louis CK. (Here's a list of at least 40 men who've lost their jobs/resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct came about).

Why should Depp be absolved of his transgressions and continue to be recruited in top projects? Especially when the degree of his transgressions is much severe, the timing of the event recent, and the the evidence, overwhelmingly clear?

We need men to lose.

We need men to realise that there are consequences, economic, social, legal and otherwise. Society doesn't owe these men rehabilitation, that's their and their battle alone. And what it definitely doesn't need to do -- like Rowling's decision quite actively has -- is to enable their economic advancement and contribute in refurbishing their image by consciously glossing over their very serious moral and potentially legal offenses.

Now, more than ever before, we need this reckoning to continue. To win. To validate the difficult truths of all those women who suppressed traumatic memories with unimaginable courage and risked re-traumatization by choosing to open up.

And Rowling, along with us, let them down too.

It's deeply wounding to be disappointed by somebody you've idolized. It not only saddens you, it thwarts your little reservoir of idealism. It's disenchanting when your heroes leave you with a profound sense of betrayal. But perhaps we need to shift our idea of what constitutes a hero, just like we have of what definitely doesn't constitute one.

A hero cannot be a projected version of our collective fantasies, who we, as hopeful followers and worshippers of literature and cinema, put on a pedestal they never signed up to be put on.

A hero cannot be an armchair hashtag activist.

A hero has to be one who champions causes, uses all the tools available to them to enable social change, and calls out a bully, a harasser, a predator, even if it comes at a commercial disadvantage.

For a writer who made an incredible career by authoring a story about a boy who survived abuse, it's heartbreaking to see Rowling defend a man, who, in all likelihood, perpetuated it.

For all its magic, the Harry Potter universe, primarily, is built on the premise of standing up to bullies.

Sadly, it's author today is complicit in encouraging one.

As the great wizard Dumbledore once said, "Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right."

For now, we know the choice Rowling made. It's a choice she'll have to live with.

Also see on HuffPost:

In what has turned out to be the most-discussed event of the year, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have tied the knot in Italy.

The ceremony took place early in the morning in the presence of family and some close friends.

After meeting during the shoot of a shampoo commercial, Virat and Anushka dated each other steadily for several years. The two have also jointly bought a property in Worli, Mumbai, where they'll move in once back in Mumbai.

According to their spokesperson, the couple will be hosting a reception in New Delhi for their relatives on 21st December which will be followed by a reception for industry friends and cricketers in Mumbai on 26th December.

The newly wed couple will travel to South Africa where Virat will start prepping for upcoming series and Anushka will spend New Year's Eve with him and return in first week of January to begin next schedule of a film with Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai.

The spokesperson said that Anushka will also start prepping for Sui Dhaaga as the shooting for the same starts in February 2018 with Varun Dhawan. Anushka will also be busy with the marketing and promotions of Pari which is releasing on February 9.

Here's wishing the couple a happy married life.

Today we have promised each other to be bound in love for ever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you.This beautiful day will be made more special with the love and support of our family of fans & well wishers. Thank you for being such an important part of our journey. pic.twitter.com/aobTUwMNAK

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 11, 2017

Today we have promised each other to be bound in love for ever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you.This beautiful day will be made more special with the love and support of our family of fans & well wishers. Thank you for being such an important part of our journey. pic.twitter.com/aobTUwMNAK

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 11, 2017

Today we have promised each other to be bound in love forever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you. This beautiful day will be made more special with the love and support of our family of fans & well wishers. Thank you for being such an important part of our journey. pic.twitter.com/Scobdiqk7l

— Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) December 11, 2017