A woman on Twitter (because only its insecure owner calls it something else) recently urged other women across India to try their best to get out. This is no country for women, she stated, and a whole lot of people retweeted in agreement. The comment appeared a day after a man was acquitted of killing his wife by forcing her into an unnatural sexual act. There was outrage, of course, not because this was the first time unnatural sex was introduced to the public discourse, but because it was not treated as an offence and another criminal had managed to get away.

Lawyers helpfully jumped into the conversation to point out why the judge’s hands were tied. Apparently, the woman who died was not below 15, they argued, which meant that the notion of consent had lost its importance. Also, given that husbands are supposedly allowed to indulge in unnatural sex with their wives, the accused couldn’t be held responsible. The implication was that laws are sacrosanct, and there’s nothing wrong with following them.