By: Dr. Rahul Bharatbhushan Kamble
The year was 1973 when a 25-year-old nurse at the KEM hospital in Mumbai was raped and strangled with a metal dog chain that pushed her to a vegetative state for the rest of her life. Five decades later, a 31-year-old post graduate Resident Doctor of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College was raped and throttled to death last week, with a post-mortem report of inhumane agony. Both happened in hospital premises where the women were employed. Both had brutality writ large. Has the state failed them, and us, again?
The rape and murder of a female resident doctor in Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital has sent shockwaves throughout the country, with junior doctors organising protests and ceasing work to demand swift justice to the victim. This has in turn affected medical services on a large. Although, one ‘Civic volunteer’ was arrested, horrific details of the gut-wrenching act, which happened last week, continue to come to light.
Possibility of ‘More than One’ people involved looms large. That Sadist being a regular at the hospital raises the possibility that he knew the young doctor; perhaps even stalked her and/or had interacted with her in some way. The grievous nature of the injuries on her body listed in the post-mortem report released by the police, seem to indicate that the rapist-murderer’s violent act was personal, almost vengeful.
To commit a crime is one thing, to make it brutal is quite another and to make it inexplicably brutal is a notch higher. If we segregate brutal incidents of murder, the next in line (in order of being gory) is brutal rapes. Brutal rapes have been reported in India on a near-daily basis, and reports of ghastly sexual assaults have steadily risen in recent years. The crude and frighteningly brutal nature of these attacks have shocked Indian society time and again, as well as thrusting the issue of women’s safety into the spotlight.
An average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in India in 2022, according to data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) but the Authorities themself admit that the figure could be much higher. Considering that rapes still go unreported in India due to the taboo attached to the subject, unofficial figures put rape incidents at over a 100, with about 80 per cent being brutal in nature.
The case of Aruna Shanbaug, the nurse who was raped, strangled with a dog leash and left to die by a ward boy whom she had scolded, in Mumbai’s King Edward’s Memorial Hospital in 1973, had itself sent shock waves and a grave warning. Aruna survived, in a manner of speaking, for she remained in a coma for 43 years, tended lovingly by her colleagues even as protests and campaigns surfaced periodically. She finally passed away in 2015 in the very hospital she was raped.
Her rapist got away with serving just seven years in jail. Logically, very strict security protocols should have been put in place for all hospitals around the country after Shanbaug’s ordeal, especially as she remained on the media radar for decades. The Kolkata case is a grim reminder of the lack of safety measures for female medical staff, even after 50 years. But sadly, every state still has cases like what happened at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata this week.
Most state-run hospitals do not appear to have done the needful whereas private ones seem far more careful on this count. Consistent hiring of “civic volunteers” by the police instead of regular recruits has long been an unreported issue as far as Government run hospitals are concerned. They are paid a pittance but supplement it by other means. Police stations now not only rely on them for information but let them “handle” local disputes too, making them neighbourhood enforcers. Mostly having political affiliations, they are “effective” enforcers, and remain outside any disciplinary purview, unlike regular police staff.
Issues flagged year after year include CCTV cameras that don’t work, absence of on-call rooms with wash rooms, ill-lit areas that women staffers prefer to avoid after dark and inadequate security measures that have made doctors increasingly vulnerable to violence. The larger failure is the chasm between intention and outcome when it comes to women’s safety.
Promises made in the aftermath of the horrific December 16 gangrape incident in 2012 have largely been reduced to lip service. The hundred per cent increase in the budgetary allocation of the Nirbhaya Fund for 2024-25 could be appreciable. But, data shows that between 2013, when it was set up, and 2022, less than half of the allocation had been used. Society and institutions will need to keep up with changing realities.
Yet, implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act, notified in 2013, has been half-hearted. Strict Legal provisions empowering on duty Doctors’ safety should be next in line. In May 2023, the Supreme Court called out “authorities/management/employers” for failing to ensure a “safe and secure work place” for women.
Doctors at government hospitals, often located on sprawling campuses, work in dark and poorly maintained areas. Security is worrisome in many sections of these hospitals. In contrast, private hospitals generally offer better security and working conditions, with improved access control and a safer environment. Numerous cases have highlighted the vulnerability of women in the medical profession to sexual attacks, intimidation, and violence from patients, their attendants, hospital staff, colleagues, seniors, and teachers. Even female patients are at risk.
The security conduct of medical colleges needs to be regulated by the government under a central authority. Mere assurances on paper are insufficient without concrete action. Hospitals and colleges must invest in suitable and safe lodging facilities for resident doctors. The long-overdue need for legislation to address violence against doctors and the abolition of punitive bonds must be urgently addressed. Disciplinary bodies at the college, state, and national levels should ensure that students can raise their concerns without fear of persecution. And ironically, Kolkata emerged as the safest City to live in according to the NCRB rankings 2024.
The writer is a freelancer writer from Mumbai.
