The thoughts has gone numb. Anguish, unproductive rage and helplessness born of it have seared any semblance of sanity which one might maintain on to. The town is caught in a frenzy of despair and mistrust resulting in an outburst of anger whereas I, a person, am nonetheless struggling for a way to course of your entire scenario. In a society which nonetheless needs a male little one at any price, rape is nothing new. If we have a look at historical past, the highly effective silencing any menace towards itself by prescribing loss of life can also be nothing new. What has occurred at RG Kar is a part of the system that nurtures such violence, misogyny and corruption at a number of ranges. All of us, willingly or not, are part of that system, threatened or bribed to silence. The loss of life of the intern has maybe proved how golden that silence is!
The incident at R G Kar Hospital has raised a number of questions. It speaks concerning the security of ladies within the office. It additionally speaks concerning the security of docs of their hospitals in addition to the security of a pupil within the establishment, reminding us additionally of the loss of life by ragging that occurred in Jadavpur College hostel only a 12 months again. However most significantly, it reveals the rot within the system that’s nearly falling aside. It reminds us of the rampant corruption that’s termite-like consuming away the material of our social methods—primarily well being and schooling. Mockingly, right here each these establishments merge—R G Kar being each a school and a hospital. Nevertheless, regardless of every part, the best way the crime has been dedicated, the case has been dealt with, and the preliminary responses of the administration—all these remind us strongly how gender equality continues to be a factor on paper.
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The rape and homicide of the younger intern in her personal medical school has left all of us aghast on the brutality and heinousness of the crime. That she was on responsibility at her personal establishment—at a spot the place one is supposedly protected, is what makes the crime much more noxious. Rape is rarely only a sexual assault, it has been the device of the patriarchy to ‘educate’ a lesson to the enemy. Rape is the last word device which not solely bodily tortures the sufferer, but additionally violates the dignity of the human physique. And it’s the girl, repeatedly, who has to undergo this double travesty. The thoughtless and irresponsible remark within the rapid aftermath of the crime, by the then principal of RG Kar, conveniently shifted the blame on the sufferer. By questioning why she was alone at evening within the seminar corridor, he not solely justified the crime but additionally established a predatory relationship between the female and male genders. Such a query additionally denies freedom to girls, and interferes together with her proper to work.
Rape is a violation of the physique, a travesty of the self and so is homicide. But, right here issues didn’t cease there. After such travesties the deceased has been additional subjected to posthumous humiliations by labelling the killing as suicide, by denying the dad and mom the delicate therapy that’s anticipated of any civil society, and by sharing pictures of the sufferer’s physique in its maligned state of being. How far have we sunk as a civil society to have forgotten to guard the dignity of the sufferer! The humiliation continues every time the sufferer’s identification is shared publicly, regardless of there being directives towards such acts. Once I sit again to consider this explicit case, I’m horrified by the a number of ranges of breaches concerned. I attempt to collect my ideas as they threaten to get scattered every time. I fail miserably and but I strive. Can there be any coherence in an incident that defies all human sensibilities!
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But one factor that got here out of this murky episode is a collective outrage. The town is within the throes of protest marches, solidarity marches, rallies and demonstrations. All that is nothing new for anybody who has lived in Kolkata for any appreciable variety of years. But there’s a substantial distinction within the motion this time. The distinction is in the best way frequent individuals, notably girls, have stepped out of their houses. The decision to assert the evening of August 14, 2024, created historical past. It’s too early to say how historical past will bear in mind the evening however it would positively go down as an evening to recollect. Ladies not even remotely linked with any type of activism joined these marches. The gatherings weren’t restricted to town however had unfold to different districts as nicely.
The decision to assert the evening resonated deeply with a big part of ladies uninterested in their on a regular basis wrestle that they needed to bear merely due to their gender. Someplace on this name the collective consciousness as girls had merged with the person identification of a lady. It was maybe not simply solidarity alone, but additionally a want to behave. It is not all the time that one sees such an enormous response. Critics taunted it as the nice Bengali ‘hujoog’, many mentioned that such amateurish protests would take away the main target from the precise incident, and so forth. I might not prefer to dismiss this spontaneous outburst so frivolously. Even when for a single day one thing might shake the snug slumber of our undulating existences, anaesthetized by the rigours of a corporatised urbanity, that positively proved that we have been nonetheless alive. Within the bleakness that grips town which has not dissipated even with the Supreme Court docket plunging into motion, such outrage among the many inhabitants sparks hope.
One would possibly declare that the highly effective has all the time used loss of life as a weapon to silence any voice towards it. Folks have agitated for some time after which gone again to their consolation zones. What’s it that has made this explicit incident so totally different that the mass is out on streets? Folks of this metropolis and maybe your entire state appear to have reached their threshold of tolerance. Dropping their religion within the State to have the ability to ship justice, there may be an urgency that has gripped everybody. The RG Kar incident has triggered a dissension that had been brewing for fairly a while now. The apolitical name bought the frequent individuals out of their home – regardless of their gender. It additionally reveals the best way our political events are dropping their credibility amongst individuals. The apolitical name won’t stay so for lengthy, I will not be shocked if it will get hijacked by any political occasion quickly, but the very fact would stay that it was the apolitical name that had introduced the individuals out on streets.
The poster that started all of it had no face, no identify, no image of identification. It was only a poster to name the ladies out within the public place at a time when they’re anticipated to stay indoors. I doubt whether or not any name by any political occasion would have acquired such a response. Isn’t this a sign of the best way basic individuals really feel about these in energy, those that have a declare to be in energy? It calls democracy primarily based on the political events in query. The vacuum that we are actually going through nation vast – lack of correct political management, a scenario that has led to creation of singular faces of reckoning, has been uncovered on this single incident of individuals stepping out to protest towards an incident. Mass uprisings will all the time be chaotic. In case of a mass clamour for justice, there may be a number of ‘unjustified’ claims. But, such uprisings are important. They’ve the facility to set the rusted wheels of energy in motion. On this case, it has made the Supreme Court docket take suo motu cognizance of the case and instantly act on it. That too is in no way any imply accomplishment.
Dr Nabanita Sengupta is an assistant professor of English at Sarsuna Faculty, Kolkata.
