Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah interacts with a student
To mark Children's Day in Bengaluru, a children's parliament is held every year at the Vidhana Soudha, where students from government schools talk directly to the chief minister on issues that concern them. This year, in obvious fallout of alleged sexual assaults on children in the city's schools in the last few months, many of their questions to chief minister Siddaramaiah were on safety.
"Nowadays, we have all seen that there are sexual assaults on girls. Even so many years after Independence there is no safety for girls," one of the girls asked Mr Siddaramaiah.
The chief minister responded by saying that the government was taking the issue seriously. "As you are saying, the guilty must be punished, these crimes must not keep happening, children should be free from such assaults - that is our aim."
Another question was on the need for sex education in schools - something that experts believe could help increase awareness among children.
The Karnataka High Court had strongly criticised the government on the issue of sexual assaults and has asked for an action taken report to be submitted to the court by December 5.
The safety of school children is clearly an issue on the minds of policy makers in Karnataka - but that needs to translate into safety on the ground.