The template is already available in the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, which regulates the broadcasting space. All television channels are supposed to adhere to the advertising and programme codes. If there are violations to that, there is an inter-ministerial committee which looks into it and of course if there is a grave licensing violation, then the ministry has the sovereign right to cancel the license. So there is no pre-censorship of content.

Honestly, it's a little more complicated. If one walks the extra mile on censorship or becomes an Orwellian state like China and firewalls the internet completely, make it into the intranet, but still one would ever be able to mitigate it, let alone eradicate it. Therefore respect for women is a part of the larger consciousness which we as a country need to internalise and imbibe and that's something which is an ethic and needs to start from the day one is born. I do not think censorship of content is the answer to that. Moreover there is something called the dark net where everything, from pornography to live murder, is available.

Image: Neelam Seolekar, Ehsaas Woman of Pune, in conversation

How can we as a society make our country safe for our daughters?

Our cities are not safe for women. As I say, that goes back to the whole mindset issue. A single woman, walking alone on the streets, leaving alone an odd city, is really a danger. And this should not be the case. It's not that the western cities are completely free from this malice but there are certain societies that have been able to create certain conditions whereby safety of women may be an issue but it's not the kind of the problem that we have in India even now. The UPA government had tightened the laws after the Nirbhaya incident but has it really mitigated the crimes against women? The answer is no. So till the time we do not have a social change in terms of attitudes, law alone cannot deal with this problem.