Mumbai has awoken again to a spectre that's never really asleep. On November 7, a Spanish exchange student was raped in her flat. A day later Aryanka Hosbetkar had a corrosive chemical thrown at her face. These two women have been scarred for life, but they are luckier than Pallavi Purkayastha, who was not just savagely molested, but also murdered this August. All three were around 26 years old and were home alone in the early hours of the morning. They were not exceptions but a fact that we aren't allowed to forget - shamefully, angrily, helplessly. These cases, and the legion of lookalikes, remind us that the liberating metro is only a sham. The new breed of smart independent women think they can live by their own rules, but they continue to be trapped.
