The gruesome rape and murder of a 31-year-old resident doctor at the Kolkata-based RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 has put the spotlight on unsafe work conditions for medical and health workers across the country.
Investigations into the case reveal that the junior resident doctor was resting at the hospital’s seminar room after a long 36-hour shift at work, when she was allegedly raped and murdered by a civic volunteer who used to frequent the hospital. Her body was found in the early hours of the morning of August 9. The accused, Sanjay Roy, was arrested the next day based on an initial investigation by the city police.
Protests by angry doctors at the hospital erupted immediately and soon spilled over onto the streets, where people from all sections joined in. What aggravated the situation was the state administration’s inept handling of the case. The striking doctors and students demanded the resignation of the principal of RG Kar Hospital, Dr. Sandip Ghosh. Shockingly, within hours of his removal, he was appointed head of another medical college in Kolkata, stoking public anger. The Calcutta High Court, which was initially hearing the case, subsequently transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognizance of the case. Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has set up a National Task Force to recommend long-overdue measures to improve safety and basic facilities at hospitals and to prevent violence, including sexual violence against healthcare professionals especially women, across the country. Appealing to the doctors to resume work, the court also expressed displeasure at the West Bengal government’s handling of the case.
Fueling the charged atmosphere further, was a deluge of fake news and misinformation. Fake audio clips went viral with unverified conspiracy theories about the crime, with influencers circulating unsubstantiated videos pointing to a gang rape and the involvement of a drug racket. Several Factcheckers, including AltNews attempted to bust the myths, but the fake viral clips had already influenced an incensed public and was being irresponsibly quoted by journalists and media networks.
Putting things in perspective, activist and lawyer Vrinda Grover told the news portal TheNewsMinute that there is little seriousness in ensuring women are safe in the workplace. Indian society sees “working women as ‘interlopers’ in the public space. We culturally believe that women’s primary space is in the home and so when they venture” into public spaces they are held “responsible for their own safety,” she argued. She pointed out that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act or the POSH Act mandates an institution to provide safe workspaces for women employees.
Echoing this view, a senior resident doctor from New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, Kamna Kakkar wrote in The Print that “the system is built for men.” Women doctors who persevere in the profession, learn to survive in it, she said. Drawing attention to the daily challenges that women face in government-run hospitals across the country, she pointed out that there are no separate toilets for women and no rooms to rest after 36-hour-long shifts in hospitals. The premises are poorly lit and unguarded, she said.
In an editorial, Free Press Journal observed that “there is a deeply embedded rape culture” in India. It also pointed out that there is “selective outrage” in response to these rapes. When sexual violence is targeted against marginalized Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi women, “national outrage is absent or muted.”
The Kolkata rape case has proved to be a tipping point for many. Women cutting across age groups have taken to the streets to demand justice. The protests have spilled over from Kolkata to other cities elsewhere in India. On the eve of India’s Independence Day (August 14), massive protests were held in Kolkata to “Reclaim the Night.”
Unfortunately, these peaceful protests were marred by horrific scenes of vandalism at RG Kar hospital, prompting criticism of the Kolkata Police’s failure to prevent the violence.
Worryingly, the Kolkata rape incident has become an opportunity for political parties to engage in a blame game. First off the blocks, was India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in opposition in West Bengal state. The BJP has been trying to gain a foothold in West Bengal and appears determined to use the rape incident to dismiss the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal. The TMC is part of the opposition INDIA bloc.
Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP warned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of violence. Bengali news channel ZeeNews 24ghanta carried a video clip of Adhikari in which he can be heard saying, “Mamata Banerjee must resign by Monday [August 27], failing which if bullets are fired on Tuesday, that responsibility will solely be Mamata’s.”
The TMC meanwhile has alleged that the BJP has “hijacked” the popular protests in its bid to topple the elected government of the state. Banerjee has lashed out at the BJP and the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) for indulging in vandalism. Addressing a rally, she said she had seen video evidence of the vandals, and accused the BJP and the CPM of infiltrating the people’s protest and orchestrating the violence.
While the BJP is at the forefront of seeking justice for the victim in the Kolkata incident, its response to violence against women in states that are under its rule has generally been one of silence.
Former editor and senior journalist Mrinal Pande took to X, formerly Twitter, to highlight this. “The BJP women MPs who were so vocal in their demand for dismissal of the Bengal government are now missing in action” in the recent rape and murder of a woman nurse in the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand state, she wrote.
The recent incident of a teenage Dalit girl in Bihar’s Muzzafarpur district, who was savagely gang-raped and murdered by upper caste men has also elicited no response from BJP ministers either in the central or Uttar Pradesh state governments.
The opposition INDIA bloc has highlighted the hypocritical stance of the BJP. While BJP leaders outrage over rapes in non-BJP states, they are silent on similar incidents in states under their government, it said. Priyanka Chaturvedi, a parliamentarian of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Bal Thackeray called out the BJP’s Smriti Irani for being “politically opportunistic” and hypocritical,” contrasting her outrage now with her silence on the atrocities at Hathras and Kathua when she headed the Ministry of Women and Child Development. While condemning the Kolkata rape case, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav urged the BJP “not to take political advantage from the incident.”
Not just opposition parties but social media posts too have drawn attention to the complete silence of the Narendra Modi government to rapes in Manipur, the gangrape of a Dalit girl in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and the garlanding of rapists of 2002 Gujarat riots survivor Bilkis Bano in Gujarat, etc.
Newspaper editorials are highlighting that in the wake of the rape incident, Banerjee finds herself in a bind and is possibly facing the greatest challenge to her third term as chief minister in the state. The coalescing of the protests also points to a possible disenchantment with her government.
The BJP, which has been in power at the center since 2014, has a track record of attempting to destabilize non-BJP state governments and even ousting them. Its jailing of Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal, chief ministers of Jharkhand and Delhi, respectively, to weaken their governments are some examples of such attempts. The possibility of the BJP adopting a similar strategy in West Bengal to oust the TMC government cannot be ruled out.
With the increasing politicization of the case, it appears that justice for the victim has become a matter of secondary concern. Only the Supreme Court-monitored CBI investigation has the potential to restore faith and secure any semblance of justice for the bereaved parents of the victim.