Candle in the Wind: Stories of True Crime Against Women And Children

Candle in the Wind is a grim reminder of how crime against women and young girls continues unabated, and why patriarchy is its real cause.

Based on true crime cases, these stories by well-known crime writer Sharmishtha Shenoy are a glimpse into the harrowing, tragic, and sometimes bizarre circumstances faced by the unfortunate victims. A six-year-old child is sexually abused by her tutor’s husband. The life of a 14-year-old orphan, who exhibits extraordinary potential and academic prowess, ends tragically due to an influential man, who, in the guise of being a benefactor of the orphanage, repeatedly rapes her. A 20-year-old woman is stalked and ultimately killed by a classmate whose advances she had dared to reject. A serial killer targets teenage girls on their way to, or back from, school. He kills three girls, young lives snuffed out like candles in the wind, before his nemesis catches up with him. A woman, accused of infertility and subjected to abuse at the hands of her husband and in laws, feigns pregnancy and attempts to abduct a newborn baby from a hospital in a desperate bid to save her marriage.

Amidst these tales of sorrow and injustice, a beacon of hope emerges in the form of ADGP Shikha Goel, a distinguished IPS officer. With unwavering courage and profound empathy, Shikha ensures that the perpetrators pay for their heinous deeds.

The underlying message in all the stories is the same: unless we make India safe for women, we can never achieve true equality.