Hospital services across the country, except for emergency care, are to shut down across the country on Saturday as a sign of protest over the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata when she took a break at the seminar room of the hospital after a marathon work schedule.
It was a picture of contrast on August 15. While people across India celebrated 77 years of the country’s Independence with pomp and patriotism, with “Har Ghar Tiranga” being the slogan uttered by every political voice, the seething rage in Kolkata was showing as thousands of people were holding candles to throw light on the dark side of women’s independence. People held an event titled “Reclaim the Night” on Thursday demanding speedy justice and stressing the lack of women’s safety.
The Kolkata doctor’s rape is yet another embarrassment to the national leaders who have been making tall claims of securing and protecting women in the country. And 77 years after India gained independence from foreign rule, the discourse continues: Are we truly free? Or is the government trying to mask societal fear and insecurities with its bold sloganeering?
The doctor’s rape and murder were not only brutal and ghastly, but are a sheer reflection of the ghost of brutalization that is living in every nook and corner of the country ready to prey upon defenceless women. In 2012, there was the Nirbhaya case where a student was raped in a moving bus and later thrown off, an incident that shook the conscience of the world. In 2017, the Unnao case; In 2018 the Kathua case; In 2020 the Hathras case. And not forgetting the 1973 case where a nurse was choked with a dog chain by a sweeper and raped in a Mumbai hospital. It is shameful that in 2022 while the country was still fighting Covid, the country recorded on average one rape case every 16 minutes.
There are numerous cases of attacks and sexual assaults on lady doctors, but very few hit the headlines, and that too only because public anger was on the boil. The one question that dominates this discourse is why is the State government machinery dragging its feet every time a rape case is detected? In the Kolkata case, the doctor was raped and murdered brutally in a most grisly manner, yet it took days for the process to unfold.
The body was traced on August 9, but there has been no credible breakthrough yet, although the parents of the victim suspected the role of a few interns and physicians of the same hospital. On what grounds did the hospital call it “suicide” in the first place? Interestingly, the Calcutta High Court which is hearing the case stated that the principal showed “no empathy” despite being a guardian of all the doctors at the hospital. The court also pulled up the West Bengal government for protecting the principal. “Something is missing here,” it said.
It is sad that 77 years after Independence, we continue to live in an era where lip service is being paid to women’s safety, where the system is failing to set deterrents for crimes against women, where policing is grossly failing in spontaneously acting on crimes against women, where we as a nation are failing to provide women with a conducive environment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi belted out a marathon 98-minute Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Thursday touching upon work done by his government and speaking on women’s safety and empowerment. One will agree with Modi when he said “we need to instil a sense of fear among those abusing women”. Yes, we must. Modi said we need to discuss action taken against rapists as much as the media discusses rape cases. Yes, we must. But what about deterrents? It took more than seven years for the Nirbhaya family to get justice.
Political quotas, mere slogans and speeches won’t help the cause. A lot needs to change in women’s safety, and it must begin with an admission of failure.
