The Unheard Cry For Justice

The whole country has seen how the most brutal and heinous rape and murder of a woman doctor on duty at the state government-run R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata drew country-wide protests not only from the members of the medical profession but from people representing all walks of life.

On the night of August 14, Kolkata witnessed an unprecedented scene of a huge number of women in the city, irrespective of their age or social strata, except for those physically unable to do so, filling the streets from the north to the south and from the east to the west.

It was not just women. The men of Kolkata also made the city proud by coming out in equally huge numbers, to express solidarity.

The movement demanding justice for the victim has since assumed gigantic proportions. This has not only stirred the nation, but its war cry, “We Want Justice” has also been echoed in distant shores. In another realm, the movement spearheaded by the junior doctors has jolted the foundation of the West Bengal government.

The role of the government, ever since the episode exploded on the conscience of the people, has been far from being transparent. As days pass and minute details of the case get revealed, it is apparent that the authorities, the college administration, the Health Department, and the police, tried their best, for reasons only they know, to erase all trails that could lead to the real culprit(s).

Had it not been for the shell-shocked, yet courageous junior doctors of the college, and the media, who recorded almost every step the authorities took since the news of the brutality on the victim came out, and the grim view taken by the Calcutta High Court of the role of the Police and the Administration, this case would, in all probability, have ended with the prosecution of the single accused whom the local police had arrested soon after the incident without any expose’ of the others behind the barbarism.

The powerful lobby that ran various nasty rackets not only at the R. G. Kar MCH but in government medical colleges throughout the state, the protection that it got from the higher-ups in the government, exploitation of the student-doctors by some extortionists in the guise of professors, would never have been exposed.

It is shocking and pathetic to see such senior police officers as the Commissioner of the Kolkata Police, and his Deputy Commissioners, offering implausible arguments to defend their failure even to secure a scene of crime, which is the primary duty of any police officer in such cases.

If a crime takes place in a room, is it normal to put a cordon only around the body, or to seal off the entire room so that unwanted footprints, etc. do not destroy precious evidence?

It is seen in a video in circulation in the media, the veracity of which has not been contested by the police, the officer in charge of the jurisdictional police station was present at the crime scene.

Besides him, there were at least ten others – a few doctors, nurses, a lawyer, security guards, and even a teacher of a medical college in far away Bardhaman! Surprisingly, while all these people were allowed access, the parents of the poor victim were made to wait outside the room and were not permitted to see the body of their beloved daughter.

Yet, the Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police claims that they had cordoned off almost the entire room and that no evidence was tampered with! But she had no explanation for the presence of so many people at the crime spot.

In these circumstances, it is natural for the people to have no faith in the city police. It is expected that the CBI will look into all these and the truth will be revealed – although the record of that organisation in similar cases in the past is not too encouraging.

As a connected matter, the agency will also perhaps look at the vandalism at the R. G. Kar hospital on the same night even as the entire city was on the street demanding justice.

As the stick-wielding goons went on the rampage in the key areas of the hospital having a bearing on the crime, the policemen deployed to guard the hospital reportedly took shelter in the nurses’ restrooms and donned their uniforms to save their lives. Fortunately, although the vandals talked of attacking the Seminar Room (the crime spot), they could not locate the correct floor.

At the Supreme Court, the state’s counsel kept mentioning that a mob of seven thousand people was involved in this incident. However, it eventually transpired that only a few dozen goons were involved in the attack but the police did nothing to stop them.

The Chief Minister found herself in a very tight spot, especially because the police and health departments are under her direct charge. Faced with the prospect of losing credibility, she told the police to solve the case in five days and offered monetary compensation to the victim’s family, which they refused.

They could not be convinced that the Kolkata Police could give them justice and approached the Kolkata High Court. That is how a court-monitored CBI inquiry was ordered.

If the police, allegedly “under orders” from or intimidation by unknown quarters, bungled the initial investigation and queered the pitch for the CBI, the Health Department did not do any better. There were serious allegations of professional as well as financial misconduct against the Principal of the R. G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh. When their agitation for justice began, the students vented their anger against him and he was forced to resign.

Good riddance, people thought; but in its wisdom, the Health Ministry reinstated the good professor at another medical college precisely with just a four-hour recess! His students-to-be refused to accept this tainted person as their guardian and began to protest.

Fortunately, the Calcutta High Court blasted the government and sent Ghosh on leave. For the CM, mum was the word when all this was happening. There is an outside possibility that her Health Ministry issues orders without Ministerial approval, but there are few takers of this theory.

To regain some of the lost credibility, the CM and her men also took to the streets demanding justice, and a death sentence for the culprit. Her newly elected women MPs joined her, and every time she uttered some catchy one-liner, they nodded in unison or parrotted “We want justice.”

The irony was, that people started asking who they were demanding to act, and against whom the protest was, since both Home and Health portfolios were hers.

Interestingly, the state’s Health Ministry woke up after three long years of hibernation and suddenly realised that there were many serious allegations against Sandip Ghosh, which needed to be probed immediately, right at a time when the colleagues of the victim, who had been given the moniker of ‘Tilottama’ were agitating for justice.

Thus, the government hurriedly constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by senior police officers of the state. Unfortunately for Ghosh and those who had planned for this belated SIT, The Calcutta High Court acted with alacrity and entrusted the CBI to probe this case too. Yet another possible attempt to muddy the water was thus nipped in the bud.

Whatever happened with ‘Tilottama’ was indeed brutal and beastly. But the people of West Bengal did not expect that the state machinery, instead of standing by the bereaved family, would appear to be shielding the perpetrators, especially when the Chief Minister of the state was a woman.

Therefore, her call for a stricter law and harsher punishment in rape cases sounds so hollow and is without any takers outside her party. Even within her party, several voices are protesting against the Administration. Whose Administration it is, after all?

The R. G. Kar happenings caused such a deep wound in the collective psyche of the whole country that it would have been impossible for any political party to remain silent over it.

Hence, though Banerjee did not like it, Rahul Gandhi harshly condemned the incident and criticised the state government for mishandling such a sensitive matter. All other political parties did the same.

It was natural for the BJP and the CPI-M to see an opportunity in the incident. The latter used its front organisations to express solidarity with the agitating doctors, standing by them sometimes without party flags.

The BJP was more aggressive. It is not clear how it happened, but from the blue, a hitherto unknown student organisation sprang up and marched in procession towards the state secretariat demanding the Chief Minister’s resignation.

This led to some violence, including brick-batting which led to a police officer losing his sight in one eye. To disperse the mob, the Police used water cannons, tear gas and batons. The political climate has heated up.

There were more surprises in store. While condemning what she called the “politicising” of the unfortunate crime, the Chief Minister went overboard and, using a very famous allegory ascribed to the Saint Ramakrishna Paramhansa in a different context, egged on her party supporters to “hiss, but not to bite.”

Like the African drums of yore, this advice from their leaders stirred up those down the line, from Ministers to MLAs to small fry, to hiss in their different ways. Minister Udayan Guha said if those women who would join the “Reclaim the Night” movement were beaten up by their husbands, they should not approach him for help.

A South Bengal MLA called the junior doctors “butchers,” and the husband of a Trinamool Congress Counsellor in a Kolkata suburb threatened that he would paste morphed pictures on the walls of the women who agitate for prompt justice, or criticise the CM.

Their “hisses” have made citizens burst into protests against the serpents and demand police action against them. To control the damage, the TMC has suspended the least important of these uncouth footsoldiers and leaders of the TMC.

In a pathetic attempt to show that the state government had a lot of empathy for the victim of the R. G. Kar butchery, the state government hastily announced a 17-point advisory to ensure the safety and security of women in workplaces.

Some of these advisories are not only demeaning for women but are downright regressive steps considering that we are in the 21st century and the country aspires to be a developed one in a matter of years.

Three of the “well-thought-out” advisories are: (a) as far as possible, in government hospitals, medical colleges and hostels, women should not be asked to work the night shift or allotted night duty; (b) no women should be made to work for more than twelve hours at a stretch; and (c) if at all it becomes necessary to allot night duty to women, it has to be done in groups where each woman in the group will keep an eye on the movements of the others.

This is absolutely shocking because it curtails women’s right to equal opportunity to work. Instead of creating an atmosphere of security where women too could work night and day without any fear, this advisory will curtail the working hours for women and force them to remain indoors. This is akin to cutting off the head to cure a headache! It goes directly against women’s emancipation.

It is unacceptable that in this age of globalisation, liberalisation, and inclusive growth when women’s footprints are deeply etched in every sphere of human activity, a provincial government of an aspiring developed country like India is prescribing a restrictive working atmosphere for its womenfolk because it cannot provide adequate security to its citizens.

Above everything else, it is a question of the right to equality which the Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens. Who are we to tell our women where to work, when to work and for how long?

Meanwhile, the all-powerful former principal of R. G. Kar MCH has been arrested by the CBI in a related case of corruption. Still, the junior doctors’ agitation continues without a break despite veiled threats of “action” from the authorities.

For the last three days, the doctors have been spending their days and nights on one of the arterial roads of Kolkata that leads to the Police Headquarters.

Apart from asking for justice and punishment of Tilottama’s tormentors, they are demanding the resignation of the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, whom they accuse of failure to secure the crime spot, to protect crucial evidence from being tampered by people who had no business to be at the scene and also the failure of his forces to protect the hospital property and evidence when only 50 to 60 ruffians vandalised R. G. Kar on August 14, when the entire city was on the streets.

The Kolkata Police have secured all approaches to its HQ just like the fortifications at the Shambhu borders which the Delhi Police built to stop the march of farmers towards Delhi. The standoff continues as the doctors are demanding that the Commissioner should either come near the fencing and accept their deputation or resign immediately.

While the country keenly watches the developments in Kolkata, it is hoped that the agitation of the doctors, so far non-violent, continues to be so and the West Bengal government finds a way of meeting their justified demands in the larger interest of the state.

The tragedy at the medical college has left an indelible mark on the collective conscience of West Bengal and the nation. The relentless pursuit of justice by the junior doctors and the citizens of Kolkata is a testament to the resilience and determination of those who refuse to be silenced in the face of injustice.

As the investigation unfolds, the authorities must demonstrate transparency and accountability, ensuring that such a heinous act does not recur. The movement sparked by this horrific incident is not just about seeking justice for one victim but also about challenging systemic failures and demanding a safer, more just society for all.

The road ahead may be long, but it is paved with the hope that the voices raised today will lead to a meaningful change tomorrow.

Sandip Mitra retired from the Indian Foreign Service. Views expressed are the writer’s own.