Exclusive: Stop Politicising Rape - An Employee At RG Kar Hospital Speaks Out

On August 9, India woke up to the horrific news of a 31-year-old doctor being raped and murdered at her workplace R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. It's been 12 days since, and this brutal atrocity has surfaced deeper rots in both medical and justice systems. With nationwide protests, both online and on the streets, the country's citizens are not just demanding justice - they're seeking a systemic change in the fabric of this patriarchal society that fuels violence against women. 

We cannot scream ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ if our girls are deprived of a very basic necessity of safety (which now feels like a luxury) in our homes, at our workplaces, and in public, and SheThePeople's recent conversation with a staff member from R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, the place where this brutal atrocity took place, gave us a holistic perspective on the matter.  

The woman staff member who has worked at the hospital for nearly three decades, and is now actively protesting on the streets, chose to be anonymous considering the administration is taking strict actions of suspension and transfers on those who dare to speak against them publicly. My conversation with her reiterates that the intentions of our laws and regulations are never matched with the outcomes.

Excerpt From The Interview 

You have been working at the hospital for almost three decades. A) Have you felt the wide gap in the premises in ensuring women’s safety? B) Were there systemic failures earlier too in the hospital where incidents showed concerns about women’s safety?

Like we have been saying even at our protests - something of this gamut has been a first in our lives. Three decades in this institution and I have never witnessed injustice of this sort ever before. Women were always safe inside the campus - or so we thought. Our hospital administration more or less helped us in the past whenever there were cases of women feeling unsafe or being harassed by patient parties. Very recently this aspect has taken a dip. We have been told by our heads to come and work in these situations even if it means risking our lives - they have clearly mentioned how they will not be responsible for our lives if the mobs that have been ransacking the hospital property attack us. The mob, on the other hand, has threatened us with rape for reasons unknown. We, the medical fraternity, are being sandwiched between bureaucratic irresponsibility and politically coloured raging mobs. 

The brutal rape and murder of the young doctor has shaken the nation to the core. As someone who worked in the same vicinity as hers, it must be devastating for you to see the treatment women have been subjected to and how it turned out for her. 

This incident has ceased to be about the rape and murder of a young girl. This has been turned into a political gimmick where the parties in the state are fighting over who can bring better justice to her - it is a competition to prove political potency, not a fight for justice anymore. Sadly enough, women from our field who have protested against this have been threatened by both the administration and the mob. 

The incident also highlights a huge concern about facilities provided at hospitals for the staff. Please tell me more about it, not just pertaining to your hospital but also the failing infrastructure of medical infrastructure and due diligence in the country.

There have been instances where patient parties have physically harassed nurses and women doctors. Although we always have a police officer on duty and a security personnel available at all times, it falls short to support us when the census of each ward rises to 80 and even 100 at times, with only two nurses, and a few doctors on round, tending them. That is the case with most hospitals as far as the staff have mentioned. We have now demanded stricter security outside each ward, especially wards where postoperative mothers and women are present. Security in government hospitals, where daily footfall crosses a thousand, is something that is of utmost importance. The hospital and the state machinery, with this eye-opening incident, have proved that it fails to support its staff and their lives. 

You have joined the protest as well. How are you feeling presently looking back at the past ten days?

There is rage and only rage. My heart breaks for the young girls that I work with - they are almost as young as my own daughter. And for the family of "Abhaya", there is only consolidation that we can provide and stand beside them to bring justice. We have not been able to think straight or relax - there is a feeling of uneasiness that lingers with the thought of the future and of the deceased, and the fact that it all happened a few metres away from my place of work. 

Do you live with a fearful state of mind while protesting, given that the hospital is making changes to the staff if they see employees speaking against them?

Precisely the reason why I wasn't comfortable sharing my identity. It is so shameful that the administration does not stand with us - that it is trying to shut us down by threatening to get us transferred to far away places, away from our families and homes. In the last ten days, the nurses who have protested in their uniforms have already received calls from their ward in-charge and been reprimanded. The only thing I can say is I feel ashamed that the institution I have served for three decades has turned out to be this.

As a mother of a daughter, what do you wish that should change to ensure an incident like this never repeats in this country? 

Stricter rape laws. Capital punishment. That is the least. In the long run, educating our sons to be better human beings devoid of ingrained rape culture and misogyny.