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This is not a “Women’s” issue. It is society’s issue. Let’s not leave it to our children to solve!
Written by Vivaan Kapoor, a Grade 9 student. Just the facts, in his own words. It’s a sobering reality when 13-year-olds are aware of such atrocities!
“Hell is empty as all the Devils are here” – William Shakespeare
On August 8th, 2024, at approximately 11.00 p.m. a thirty-one-year-old postgraduate trainee was exhausted by her gruelling thirty-six-hour shift. Doctors are allowed to rest half a day to stay active for long periods in cases of emergencies, which is why the young doctor had to stay back at the hospital building where faith would turn against her.
At approximately 2.00 a.m. she took a break from her medical rounds and decided to share a meal with her colleagues. They happily binge-watched the Olympics in hopes of a gold medal for her nation in the javelin throw competition. At 3am, after reviewing an intern’s medical report, the woman, tired and drowsy, decided to go to sleep in that very seminar room, where security cameras and help were too far to reach her. This was the last instance where she was seen alive.
The next day at 7.30 a.m. the staff of RG Kar Medical Hospital were beyond terrified at what awaited them. The young postgraduate was found dead, with her clothes ripped apart and blood profusely leaking from her eyes and genitals. Nothing could be a clear sign that she had been sexually assaulted, but when the hospital superintendent called her parents, he told them that their daughter was simply unwell and followed it up with another blatant lie that their beloved daughter had taken her own life.
Even more disgusting was the fact that the hospital made the parents wait for three hours and the only interaction they could have with their deceased daughter was a picture of her dead body. The father upon seeing the body burst into tears. In a later interview he stated that, “My daughter has been assaulted and murdered. She is gone, there is nothing we can do to bring her back, at least we should get justice”. This soon became the outcry of all India as the news of her heinous killing spread wide throughout the continent with the people demanding justice and an answer for these actions.
Image source: NewsX
The protest started in the RG Kar Medical campus and soon reached several medical campuses in Kolkata and the entire country. The Bengal police finally arrived at the scene, setting up fifteen monitors to get accurate footage where they questioned five suspects. Each one had an alibi except for one – Thirty-three-year-old Sanjay Roy. He was seen in shorts and a sleeveless shirt with a Bluetooth headphone on his shoulder. It was evident by the security footage that Sanjay was also under the influence of alcohol. The police department at the scene of the crime found these same headphones. His own family considered Sanjay Roy a “Blot” with his sister calling him a plague on the family’s name. She shared, “I cannot mention a single good quality about him. If he is given capital punishment, we will not go to collect his body”.
With more evidence being uncovered, police are now working on a theory that this crime was not perpetrated by Sanjay alone. The police found several marks of forced penetration on the body which proved there were multiple people involved in this crime. This raises many questions about what our government is doing for the protection of women in our nation, especially with the inaction of Mamta Banerjee and the Bengal High Court.
Sadly, this is not the first instance of women in our country suffering. Many have pointed out similarities between the Nirbhaya case where a young woman was assaulted in Delhi by a bus driver and his companions. This again brings up the familiar argument of Is India safe for Women? Will there need to be a Nirbhaya in every profession and every walk of life before we, as a society, stand up and say “No More!”?
More about the author: Vivaan Kapoor is a Grade 9 student studying in Mumbai. He is an astute student with a love for history and a passion for musical endeavors, particularly with string instruments. Beyond his academic and musical interests, Vivaan is a person with a strong sense of justice and compassion, deeply committed to raising awareness about serious issues faced by people.
