While women getting raped in India is no news, women being targeted in heart of urban India was shameful.

Whatever happened to the law of the land? How would women step out of homes if the streets were unsafe? Why was the dignity of a woman being damned so easily?

Let's talk about the cases.

In May this year, Delhi was shocked after a 19-year-old girl from North East was gang raped at the wee hours of morning. The incident occurred when the girl along with her friend decided to have some food and walked to a nearby dhaba in Dhaula Kuan at around 2.15 am. That's when the assaulters, who were in a Santro car, stopped them. While the victim was dragged into the car, her roommate escaped and informed the police.

The second incident is famous today as the Marine Drive rape case in Mumbai. On April 21, a 16-year-old girl from Chembur was taking a walk on the promenade along the Marine Drive with two boys late afternoon, when Sunil More, a constable stationed at the chowki nearby summoned them. After asking the boys to leave, he bolted the door and raped the girl.

The third case to catch the nation's imagination was the Imrana rape case in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district. In June end, there were reports of a 28-year old woman, Imrana Noor Elahi, stating that her father-in-law had raped her.

The village panchayat, which included a local Maulvi, order a decree that she was no longer 'pure' for the husband and must marry her father-in-law. It also ruled that the marriage stood annulled and her five children would remain the responsibility of her husband, Noor Ilahi. The verdict was supported by a well-known seminary, Darul Uloom, Deoband.

The fourth and most shocking incident was the rape and murder of a 24-year-old BPO employee in Bangalore by the driver of her company. The Prathiba Shrikanth of HP GlobalSoft was killed on December 13, and the accused arrested in the night. The incident came to light only after her husband lodged a kidnapping complaint with the police.