Claiming The Night

The women of Kolkata will perhaps open a new page in the history of collective protests against rape. On August 14, an hour before the breaking of Independence Day, the women will step out for a “Take Back the Night” or, “Claiming the Night” march from three significant points of the city.

Women across age, community, status, education, etc are invited to participate in this march from different neighbourhoods. The three major points from which the women will begin their march are – Jadavpur University, the Academy of Fine Arts and College Street.

“Take Back The Night” is an organisation in the United States that honours the historic 1970s stand of those who first advocated for the essential right of women to walk alone at night without fear of being raped, harassed, or otherwise harmed. In the 70s, San Francisco had a number of rallies in protest of “snuff” pornography and violence against women.

In 1975, residents of Philadelphia marched out on the streets after microbiologist Susan Alexander Speeth was stabbed to death on a sidewalk when she was returning home from work. In 1976, a Tribunal Council of women from 40+ countries met in Belgium to advocate for the safety of women on the streets at all hours of the day and night.

In the 1970s and 1980s, feminists became more vocal about issues of responsibility and blame in incidents of sexual violence. Traditional views suggested women could prevent sexual violence by acting or dressing certain ways.

Feminists argued that a victim of an attack should not be held responsible or blamed because of her sexual history or manner of dress.

During the night-long vigils after the Nirbhaya gang rape case, women and girls of Kolkata had organised a similar “claim the night” march. But this time, it is much bigger and stronger in terms of numbers, and more vocal in terms of strident voices in the chorus claiming that no girl or woman should be afraid to walk alone in the city at night.

One good thing about this march scheduled to begin a few minutes before it strikes midnight on August 14 is that the calls to join adds a warning note to all willing participants not to bring any party flag with them so that the march of protest remains free of any political colour.

‘Take Back the Night’ in Kolkata is the local chapter of the global movement. Ut campaigns not only for women, but also for trans people and queer communities to reclaim public spaces. It was created around 11 years ago and presently has about 275 members.

The call to all women everywhere to join this march has been met with tremendous response not only from Kolkata proper but from right across the state. Labelled as “Justice for RG Kar” it points out that the women are claiming justice for the young, 31-year-old post-graduate medical student of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The doctor was brutally raped and killed in the fourth floor seminarroom where she had gone to take rest during her break in night duty on Friday, August 9. Her body was discovered, at dawn, partially unclothed, with blood oozing out of her eyes and other parts of the body.

According to the first post-mortem report, shards of glass from the spectacles caused the eye injuries that were found on her. After savagely sexually assaulting her, the accused killed the doctor by throttling and smothering her.

The door of the seminar room did not have a lock and anyone could walk in without drawing attention. The doctor was not out on the streets but was resting within the so-called safety of the institution of which she was a member.

“Girls, Claim the Night” said the slogan on a poster. The name of the victim has not been mentioned as a mark of respect to her privacy. If a doctor can be brutally raped and murdered in her own hospital and medical school, what about the safety of ordinary women and girls, I ask.

Why does this government hospital not provide proper rest rooms for their women staff, and washrooms as well?

On Saturday morning, a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy who mysteriously appeared to have clear and free access across the hospital, was produced before a city court and remanded to ten days of police custody. Roy has reportedly admitted to having committed the rape and murder, but does not appear to bear any remorse about his action.

Stories in the media following his arrest state that he had tremendous influence within the Kolkata police and had free access to all public hospitals and police places in Kolkata.

A member of the organisation says, “This is a movement and a protest against all those stereotypes for women about ‘don’t step out alone at night’, or, warnings of ‘come back early’ and that ‘women should be conscious about night.’ It is a movement embracing equality.”

The shocking fact is that the first response of the police was that the girl had committed suicide. Why? How? Why would she strip and torture herself before committing suicide?

She had no history of depression and was a brilliant student studying for a post-graduate medical degree in respiratory medicine. She was the only child of her parents focused entirely on her work and studies.

The unending debate around the right punishment for rape mostly ends up with a bias against the victim. The ex-Principal of the R. G. Kar Medical College, who has since resigned, had responded by saying, “what was she doing alone at night?”

This bias springs from popular myths. One is that the rape victim is morally responsible for the crime committed against her, a myth is based on whether the women have control over whether their bodies are violated during the act of rape.

Another myth is that if the woman does not resist, she is implicitly inviting the violation of her body! The persistent mystification of rape makes the patriarchal, judicial and legal machinery of any state look at it as a victim-precipitated crime.

But this is not a power rape, a custodial rape, a seducing rape or even a date-drug rape. None of the biased arguments against the rape victim stated above works in the present case. Then, why?

Society has castrated women in every way, and rape is just one dimension of this castration and murder, of course, is the tragic end to a bizarre story. Rape is a means by which a woman is politically manipulated to harbour feelings of guilt, fear, distrust, shame, anger and frustration.

The law, ironically, chooses to harass and distrust the victim rather than give her justice. Mass protests have had little bearing on the law and judiciary machinery nor on the media. Who is going to cry out for justice when the victim has already been silenced?

Patriarchy is a legitimation of hierarchy, exploitation and violation through which women are systematically subjugated, disempowered, silenced and marginalised. Each of these amounts to an outrageous violation of women's right to freedom.

The patriarchal conceptual frameworks that have attributed higher value and prestige to male gendered behaviour have also led to certain expectations. The male species are determined by gender constructions as much as females are.

The only difference is that males are determined and defined by privileged constructions, whereas females have been constructed as having a lack of certain ‘qualities’ and being ‘inferior’ by virtue of an ambiguous measuring rod structured by males.