EDITORIAL
Note to readers: We write this editorial with great sensitivity and care. The decision to release it on 15 August, our nation’s Independence day is a conscious one. What has happened to a young woman of this country is truly horrific. Our Editorial Board is taking a very strong stand on this issue, for without journalism of courage, our beautiful democracy will wither in the darkness.
A young Indian female Doctor, is found brutally raped and murdered, blood soaked inside the hospital where she worked. Just 31 years old, her life, her dreams, her spark – all destroyed. Her half naked body left exposed, her legs wrenched open and blood flowing from her eyes.
It is difficult yet essential to share these details to bring home the horror of what has gone down in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a pre-eminent government institute in Kolkata, West Bengal on 9 August 2024.
Her father is made to wait 3 agonising hours to see a glimpse of his daughter’s dead body, before he is shunted out again. In violation of all norms, the victim’s body is hastily cremated, turning to ash all crucial evidence: her bodily fluids, semen of the rapists, bite marks on her neck and chest and all hair samples. Obliterating all possibility of a second autopsy and detailed medical examination of the victims body.
A single arrest has been made so far, but many doctors have raised suspicion publicly that the medical evidence points to an extremely brutal gang-rape, which suggests that perhaps the other rapists and killers are out there free. The parents of the victim have voiced their concern saying their daughter was gang-raped.
A political slugfest has erupted on who’s to blame, with finger-pointing amongst different political parties; and videos have surfaced online showing a purported attempt to tamper with evidence and to remove evidence from the crime scene at RG Kar Medical College, with late night, ‘mysterious renovations’ being started by the College Administration, a mere 20 meters away from the location of the rape and murder before being stopped after public uproar.
Where were the police authorities?
It has taken the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Kolkata High Court to ask why the principal of RG Kar Medical College, Dr Sandip Ghosh was not removed immediately following the horrific rape and murder within the college and why was he transferred to a plum posting instead? “Why did students of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) have to protest, lock the Colleges gates to stop this Principal from resuming his new position. Why did the state administration not shunt him out permanently after 9 August?” the Court asked. The High Court has since put Dr Sandip Ghosh on indefinite leave and handed the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s premier domestic central investigative agency.
What is even more shocking however is Dr. Ghosh’s behaviour and actions, following the death of the young doctor. He first blamed the victim herself, saying “what was she doing in the seminar room of the college hospital? Why was she alone?”
Under him the College administration in a very disturbing manner misguided the victim’s family, initially informing them that their daughter had committed “suicide.” Only after intense public outcry and protests, across India, after the intervention of the Calcutta High Court, the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital administration have accepted that a brutal rape and murder has taken place in their premises.
Even amidst these major lapses, the college premises were vandalised just yesterday by violent mobs and hooligans. Where is the police? Who is going to protect the protesting citizens?
The young doctor died on 9 August 2024. But the story is not new.
Year after year, week after week, we have reported on countless cases of sexual assault and violence against women in India. Too many to count and too appalling to mention. Government of India’s own data, from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that in 2022, at least 31,516 cases of rape were registered in the country under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.
This is equivalent to more than 80 rapes taking place in India every single day and amounts to more than 3 rapes occurring every single hour in 2022.
We have a rape and sexual violence problem in this country and we must accept it. Only then can we begin to fight it and remove this glaring blight on our nation.
The horrific nature of what has happened, brings back memories of Nirbhaya, India’s fearless daughter who too was brutally gang-raped, tortured and left for dead in the National Capital Delhi in 2012. Her mother, Asha Devi had courageously announced Nirbhaya’s real name to the world – Jyoti Singh, telling the nation that her daughter’s last words to her were “ma, mai jeena chahati hoon” (mom, I want to live).
12 years later, this young female doctor too has by all accounts defiantly fought her assaulters, not giving in till her last breath. Yet we honour her courage with despicable cowardice. A hasty cremation, even before the CBI took full control of the investigation. Where was the mighty Indian state?
The details of what has happened are almost too chilling to recount, but recount them we must. For in the horror of what has happened to this young girl and her family, lies India’s shame.
For the past 9 years, the Government of India has been running the famous national mission called ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child. The national mission has produced good success in saving our young girls over the years. But in this case, the tragedy is – a young girl child was educated by her family and became a doctor. Yet as a nation and society we could not save her on 9 August 2024, a mere 5 days before our 78th Independence Day.
Even as young girls and women in India try to ‘reclaim the night’ taking out huge protests in support of the victim and asking for swift justice, the trust the people of Kolkata shared with each other has been broken. Just as it was broken in Delhi in 2012 when Nirbhaya happened and in 2018 in the Kathua rape (Jammu & Kashmir) and in the 2020 Hathras gang-rape (Uttar Pradesh). The rape stories are countless and the instances never ending. When will this horror stop?
Looking ahead, we are forced to wonder how hard will it now become for a young girl of this country to convince her parents to permit her to go out and work. How long will we have to cage our women and girls fearing such dreadful sexual violence? How much harder does a young girl have to fight for her Right to Work now in 2024 after this incident?
The day when we are able to educate and save our girl child, when women in India do not fear stepping out at night, is the day we gain true Independence for all our citizens.
How much longer must we wait for that day?
(This Editorial is published on behalf of the Editorial Board at IAAN Express)
