On February 18, 2025, a 14-year-old girl contacted Majlis, a forum for women's rights discourse and legal initiatives, to disclose the severe physical abuse she had been enduring at the hands of her mother, stepfather, and brother. Her body bore deep cuts and burn marks, stark evidence of the torment she had suffered. Desperate and terrified, she sought refuge at a friend's home, sobbing uncontrollably and pleading not to be sent back. Despite approaching the police twice for help, she was turned away both times.

"We contacted Childline 1098 (a 24-hour emergency service for children in need of care and protection). We also informed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Mumbai, but they both refused to help. The CWC dismissed the case, labelling it a “family matter” and advised us to settle the matter with the family. We requested that the child be admitted to a shelter but CWC refused saying it cannot be done without police intervention and kept shouting about following procedure. CWC insisted that the child should stay at her friend’s house, even though we communicated that this posed a danger not only to the child but also to the family offering her refuge. We then reached out to the District Women and Child Officer and hoped that with directions from a superior authority, they would take the child to a shelter but no one turned up," claims Majlis, a forum for women's rights discourse and legal initiatives.