India recently celebrated its 78th Independence Day with much gusto. But a poignant question one must ask here is, are we really independent? Yes, we gained Independence from the British rulers but not from a patriarchy, not from misogyny. And this can be proven by the fact that even after seven decades of Independence women and girls do not feel completely safe. They are not safe on the streets and they are not even safe in their schools or workplaces. A glaring example of this is the R G Kar Hospital rape and murder case. Imagine the hard work the young woman must have put in, right from her school days, to finally be on course of b e c o m - ing a doctor one day. What sacrifices m u s t have been made by her and her family to help her get there. But as fate would have it, during her 36-hour night duty in the hospital, she met with an end no less brutal than anyone’s worst nightmare. This is just one of the latest gory incident that questions our claims to progress.There are others too.The list is never ending.