A hero’s welcome: The Hindu update

Published 10 August 2026 · local

(This article is part of the Gender Agenda newsletter. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Sunday, subscribe here.) Earlier this week (August 6

(This article is part of the Gender Agenda newsletter. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Sunday, subscribe here.) Earlier this week (August 6, 2026), the Bombay High Court convicted Tarun Tejpal, former editor of Tehelka magazine, in a 2013 sexual assault case and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The court berated the Goa sessions court’s 2021 ruling that acquitted Tejpal while holding the survivor, who was his junior, to impossible moral standards. It stated that the idea of a ‘perfect victim’ was a myth and that the judgement was perverse. “The ‘perfect victim’ concept, more formally known as an ‘ideal victim’, described an unspoken cultural archetype where a person is fully believed, sympathised with and granted legitimacy only if they exhibit absolute vulnerability, complete innocence and total passivity,” the court said. When a victim does not fit the description, the trauma is devalued, it added. When the news came in, my friend who gleefully shared the information of the conviction with me, said “This week’s newsletter writes itself, doesn’t it?” Women who accuse their harassers of sexual misconduct have forever borne the burden of seeming ‘ideal’. The reason why Tejpal’s judgement brings women across the country joy is because we see a glimmer of justice in a world that rarely allows for any missteps from our end. A friend who visited a police station a year ago to formalise a police complaint against a stranger who groped her on the streets, said that the police refused to file an FIR. “The police asked me why I was walking on the streets late at night and asked a man to accompany me on any further walks henceforth,” she said. Take another case of the seven female wrestlers, including the minor, who registered complaints with the police accusing former president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh Singh, of molesting and groping them at training camps and tournaments.

A Delhi court that acquitted Singh on August 3, did not allow media representatives to witness the trial. However, just like the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), dismissed the voices of several women who protested against this man who allegedly groped them and pulled their saris. Singh received a hero’s welcome during his address in Uttar Pradesh on August 7 where he plans to contest from, in the 2029 elections. Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin too received rousing support from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supporters when he returned from a Thanjavur police station where he was detained in connection to an innuendo relating to an actor. Addressing a public meeting, Udhayanidhi’s double entendre remarks were made in response to the crowd mentioning an actor’s name in response to a comment on what was important to Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, masking it under the context of the Cauvery issue. A sad state of affairs. Tejpal viewed himself a hero failed by the system, likening himself to Umar Khalid, saying he was punished by political forces. A large number of supporters greeted Singh with drumbeats, music, slogans, and flower petals as he returned to his home district Gonda, after his acquittal, much like a messiah in the movies. The same could be observed with Udhayanidhi too, who was perceived as a victor by the cadre who waited and protested for him. Are these, then our heroes? What is heartening instead, is the tale of a welcome reception that is truly well-deserved. Read this story about four women from Haryana’s Bhiwani, known as India’s Mini Cuba of boxing, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Sakshi Chaudhary, who is coming home with a gold medal, will be riding past 150 banners congratulating her victory and a felicitation function by her family full of ladoos, jalebis, hot tea, coffee, and paneer pakoras for at least 500 people as years of hard work have truly paid off in the 51kg category.