The 12-year-old Muslim girl sat in the advocate’s office in Rajajinagar, with her parents and her three-month-old son. Yes, that's right, her son. And yet, when you walk into the room, your first impression is one of slight bewilderment, your first thought - 'where's the 12 year old?' For holding the baby is a woman. A young, tragically jaded young woman whose innocence has been squeezed out of her like paste out of a tube in the hands of a careless child. At one go, life stole her innocence, her childhood, her idealism and the future she hoped to have. And we're all to blame for that.

This is not the story of one disastrous rape case. This is definitely no moral commentary on whether or not she gave her consent and or a high-flown opinion on legality. The situation, which will be explained to you now, is just a microcosm showing you, in the harshest possible light, the greatly flawed society of which we are a part.

In September 2011, Shabnam (name changed) was raped by Rasheed (name changed), her father’s apprentice and distant relative. Rasheed lived in the house along with Shabnam, her parents and her three siblings. The glaring glitch in this situation needs hardly to be pointed out. “Since he was staying in the house, he saw her changing her clothes one day and took advantage of her,” said Mr Ramananda, Shabnam’s advocate while he briefed the journalists before the actual interview. Poverty and financial constraints may have caused the situation, of course and the consequences went either unforeseen or ignored.

The rape and the pregnancy caused an uproar in Shabnam’s community. “The local rowdies told us to take her out of school and want us to marry our daughter off to the man who raped her,” said Shabnam’s father. “Would you leave your house open to a burglar just because he has robbed your house once? So why should I marry my daughter off to the man who raped her?” he demands.

In this grim situation, which would have meant definite ostracism otherwise, Shabnam is lucky to have her father. A man of exceptional courage, he is determined to shield his daughter from any harm or discrimination. “I’ve four children and with the little boy, I have five,” he says. “My daughter is the only educated girl in the family, she helps me with the accounting work in my shop. I consider her my male child, I cannot rely on my son the way I rely on her.”

The case was fought bravely to the finish. When Justice Ram Mohan Reddy angrily said the school should function even if Shabnam is the only student there, it seemed like a triumph. Only the battle was won. The media swarm was to be expected, as were their depressingly predictable views. Shabnam was quoted in a leading daily, saying she was in love with Rasheed and wanted to marry him and that her father was only in the way. Society, from the barely literate religious bigots to the well educated middle class said Shabnam was a willing participant. Little regard and compassion was shown for the 12 year old whose life hung in the balance.

In 2007, 24 states in the US and DC introduced a new bit of legislation – the HPV (Human Papillo Virus) vaccine was made mandatory for school girls. In the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, the controversy following this mandate was discussed. The vaccine, which is said to prevent cervical cancer is to be administered to girls between the ages of 9 and 25. That the hype surrounding the HPV vaccine condoned and even encouraged sexual activity in pre teens was an oft-made argument. On July 17, an article titled ‘Why 6-year-old Girls Want to Be Sexy (STUDY)” appeared in the Huffington Post.

An actual bit of research claims girls as young as six are beginning to think of themselves as sex objects. According to the January issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, research shows that women who used oral contraceptives may be vulnerable to excess amounts of testosterone flow, “potentially leading to continuing sexual, metabolic and mental health consequences.” The side-effects of contraception have been long-established by science. Few teens know that. Most of them have seen the popular contraceptive advertisement on television, however, of a mischievous looking girl with dishevelled hair popping a pill to compensate for her promiscuity.

If all these reports are to be believed, the number of sexually active pre-teens is alarmingly on the rise. Shabnam learnt the hard way. Young, impressionable and bombarded with information she doesn’t know how to disseminate, if Shabnam went willingly, she can hardly be blamed. An excess of information combined with a lack of education has led to disastrous consequences, not just for this girl, but for countless others like her, whose stories go unheard. This is a good time to introduce sex education, we ventured hopefully to the headmistress of Shabnam’s school. We received no reply, save for her horrified expression.

Whether Shabnam was forcibly used or whether she gave her consent is not a point of contention for us, the middle class perched safely on our moral high grounds. Honestly, who knows how we might have done, in her situation? All Shabnam needs is education and awareness, for, all said and done, a human being’s life is in her young hands and his welfare must be seen to as well. After all, the greatest lessons to be found in this story are the ones that she will learn.