The utterly brutal rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital has left West Bengal and the nation with a deep sense of betrayal. The doctor’s story was not an unusual one. Hailing from a lower middle class background, the young girl put herself through the grind of medical school and was all set to embark on the noble career of saving people. The least that was expected of the powers that be was that she would be able to carry out her duties in a safe and secure environment. But that was not to be. She was violated in the cruellest manner possible in her workplace after she had completed a gruelling 36-hour shift. It is not surprising that Kolkatans rose as one to demand justice for one of their own. That the medical fraternity countrywide took it upon themselves to strike work in solidarity with the RG Kar victim is evidence that the case made them realise how vulnerable they are. The outrage and spontaneous protests have shaken up the Mamata Banerjee government which has now come up with a set of guidelines to ensure the security of women medical professionals. Among the suggestions is that women should not be put on night shift. Instead of taking steps for the safety of women medical professionals, the administration has chosen the easy way out, once again relegating women to the sidelines.
Many loose ends need to be tied up in the RG Kar case and it appears unlikely that the CBI will complete its investigation within the stipulated time frame. Now the top court of the country has taken suo motu cognizance of the case. Without a doubt a massive cover-up exercise is underway, as was evident when the doctor’s parents were initially told that her death was a suicide when it was clear to everyone around that she had been brutally murdered. Why were the facts being hidden? While a civic volunteer was blamed for the rape-murder and taken into custody, the forensic and other evidence suggests that she was probably gangraped and murdered by more than one person. CCTV evidence showed the civic volunteer entering the hospital several times that night in an inebriated condition. The civic volunteers are a creation of the Mamata Banerjee government as a means to provide jobs to hundreds of unemployed youth. They are generally lumpen elements given to intimidatory tactics. Therefore, the counter-march led by the chief minister demanding that the culprit in the case be delivered capital punishment was indeed hypocritical. Instead of owning up to the terrible lapse in security in a government-run institution, a political blame game has been initiated.
The RG Kar case may well prove to be Mamata Banerjee’s waterloo. Rifts within the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal on the handling of the case are emerging. People have not hesitated to take to task the party which prides itself on sending the maximum number of women MPs to the Lok Sabha. It is a shame indeed that it took several days for any of them to condemn the horrific incident. The CM herself has been sadly wanting while dealing with cases of rape in her state. She has often taken to victim-shaming as in the case of the Park Street rape survivor or the Kamduni incident. It is ironic indeed that despite being the only woman chief minister in India, her state records the highest number of cases of sexual atrocities after Uttar Pradesh. While touting a number of schemes that benefit women, the basic necessity of providing safety for them has been neglected. Mamata has so far led a charmed life, winning election after election, but her time may be running out as public anger is at its peak now. It remains to be seen how the BJP, which has been desperately trying to breach the Bengal bastion, will cash in on the present situation.
Whatever the truth of the RG Kar incident, it is clear that medical professionals continue to face grave risks. More than half a century ago, a young nurse named Aruna Shanbaug at Mumbai’s KEM hospital was brutally raped, strangled with a dog chain by a ward boy and left to die on her night shift. She was found the next morning alive, but the chain had cut off oxygen supply to the brain and she lived in a vegetative state for another 40 odd years. She was lovingly looked after by the nursing fraternity at the KEM Hospital till her death. Now, fifty years later, is the horror at RG Kar Hospital. The more things change the more they remain the same.
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