Kolkata Doc Rape Case: Let This Not Be Another News, It’s Time We See The End Of It

The recent Kolkata raped-to-death incident of the young doctor in the hospital is nothing short of another horrific reminder of the mindset of abuse towards women. I want to scream and cry out loud for the rape survivors who are discouraged by their kith and kin not to speak up about the violence meted out towards them. The victims are silenced forever and the saga continues. Another gory incident of rape that is uglier than the last one.

It's 2024 And Survivors Are Still Discriminated With Contempt For Being A Victim

The short public outrage is seen as an encouragement for the perpetrator to be more violent than one of the previous cases that shook the nation. Nirbhaya still remains fresh in our hearts. Her mother’s lost eyes still stay moist in our aching hearts and we have not even gotten over that feeling when another murkier case comes out in the media - of another woman raped and murdered. 

The recent Kolkata raped-to-death incident of the young doctor in the hospital is nothing short of another horrific reminder of the mindset of abuse towards women. The message seems to tell us that women who dare to defy the rules of patriarchy will be taught a tough lesson. It reeks of shame and pain that, in 2024, a woman dared to sleep after a long shift in the hospital premises where she worked - the very place that vouched to protect her, and help her life become better. How could she forget that she is a woman? Her body can arouse a man and it is not his fault if he wishes to teach this erring girl a lesson for life.

In this case, again, the victim was sodomised by the civil volunteer, who is employed to protect the community. But his depravity, like many, remained unseen when he was being interviewed and was given the job opportunity. The girl now is dead and she can’t recount the incident in her own words. We have to only read and see the injuries on her body that she sustained, as we sensitise ourselves and imagine her trauma. As we try to feel her pain. We can only endeavour to comprehend the anger and disgust the perpetrator had towards women, as a gender. Did he feel this sort of hatred towards one and all? 

Like all women, my head too, is reeling in pain and misery. Because in her I can see my sister in pain, my unborn daughter lying cold in death and my bleeding vagina that is tearing from each layer into my heart, with the trauma of her broken pelvic bone, her bleeding pupils and her state of vulnerability when she was killed for being a woman. 

The story of the insecurity of being a woman in a megacity, where the eerie howl of women is silenced by criminals who are like jackals, prowling to attack their victims. All of this macabre violence is quietened in the cacophonous honking of the glitzy cars, with more drunken drivers who think it is okay to be aggressive and reckless because he is physically stronger.

It is time now that we as women need to speak up about the glaring acceptance of violence in pornography, where sadism and machoism are celebrated. It reminds me of the dystopian film of Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, which leaves you gasping for breath. The film encapsulates a city where the human conscience sleeps in dustbins of putrid vomit.

Such is the sad state of frightened women who every day negotiate their lives in a jungle, where might remain right. In public spaces where a woman must never forget her boundaries or dare to be disobedient. She must be punished violently for defiance. The methodology to teach her a lesson is to murder, maim, rape or throw acid on her so that she and an entire generation of women must never dare to cross the line. 

If one is to look at the concept of civic volunteers, they are a contractual force, that was started under the Mamata Banerjee government to assist the police. An estimated 100,000 such volunteers work with police stations across the state. The question that arises is how the system ensures that the employees are not of this sick mindset. The answer remains unclear. As we all know in the most respectable circles, pornography, abuse, domestic violence, and intimate partner crime are often overlooked by society and also the elders in the family, as a couple's personal matter or an issue of family reputation. So most look the other way. 

Therefore, change in the mindset among people who witness violence and gender discrimination, to sensitise them, isn’t an easy task at hand. The National Commission Of Women recorded 28, 811 cases of crime against women in 2033, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list. In all this, one is aware that many cases go unreported as the perpetrators sometimes are close family members. 

The Kolkata case is being investigated closely. There has been resignation at senior levels and the security guards who were on duty, when the crime took place, have lost their jobs. The perpetrator has been arrested. There is more to this case as hinted by the media. 

As women, we no longer need to hide or feel ashamed for being victimised and abused. What has been done to us hurts us deeply and there is solace in knowing that there are protests and the government has promised to give appropriate punishment to the guilty.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion on what should have been done after the death of the young doctor, but it is time now to set the record straight for what is to become of the criminal when such atrocities take place. We wait to see the end of this, with the hope of justice and avenging our collective anger as women of this glorious country called India, where we have strong women representing our nation and deities like Ma Durga and Ma Kali are celebrated for their courage and power. 

Views expressed are the author's own. 

Mohua Chinappa is a poet and an author. She runs two podcasts - The Mohua Show and The Literature Lounge. She is also a member of an award-winning, non-profit, London-based think tank called Bridge India.