Yesterday, this paper carried a shocking front-page report about a seven year-old girl who is chained to her cot day and night at her home on the pavement in Sion. She is kept shackled by her mother who fears this may be the only way to protect her from a more brutal fate that another little girl, a five-year-old in Mahim, who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered. While the seven-year-old in Sion may be too young to fully understand the situation yet, one can only begin to imagine the psychological impact her mother's fear-fuelled reaction might have in the long term.

We have to once again look at our society and why gender violence is becoming so all-pervasive. Safe spaces are shrinking at an alarming rate; from hospital rooms to classrooms and even at home, women do not seem to be safe in this city, which was once a safe haven for women.