The recent brutal rape and murder of a young doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata has once again exposed the deep, festering wounds in India’s moral and social fabric. This horrific crime is not just an isolated incident; it is the latest in a relentless wave of violence against women that has become all too familiar in our society. And the most damning indictment of all? The system – designed to protect and serve – has failed yet again.
India’s women are under siege. They face a constant, unyielding threat of violence, from the streets they walk to the workplaces where they strive to build a future. The young doctor, a woman who dedicated her life to healing others, was mercilessly robbed of her own life in a place that should have been safe – a hospital. The symbolism is stark – even within the hallowed halls of healing, women are not safe. What hope, then, is there for safety in the wider world?
The response from the system has been as predictable as it is infuriating. A flurry of condemnations, empty promises of swift justice, and assurances that “measures will be taken” to prevent such atrocities in the future. We’ve heard it all before, haven’t we? After the Nirbhaya case in 2012, after Kathua, after Unnao – each time, the same hollow rhetoric, the same cycle of outrage followed by inaction. And each time, another woman is sacrificed at the altar of societal apathy.
The truth is that the system is not just failing; it is complicit. It fails to protect because it doesn’t value women’s lives enough to enact real, meaningful change. Our legal and judicial systems are sluggish, often re-traumatising survivors with endless delays and insensitive questioning. Law enforcement is riddled with corruption, incompetence, and, at times, outright misogyny. Policymakers, insulated by their privilege, remain woefully disconnected from the brutal realities faced by ordinary women. And society, with its entrenched patriarchy, perpetuates a culture of victim-blaming and shaming, making it clear that women are responsible for the violence inflicted upon them.
The brutal rape and murder of this young doctor is a stark reminder that the battle for women’s safety in India is far from won. The very fact that such barbaric acts continue to occur, with sickening regularity, speaks volumes about the failure of every institution responsible for safeguarding the dignity and lives of women.
What will it take for the system to wake up? How many more daughters must be sacrificed before we see real change? It is time for the middle class, the very backbone of this nation, to rise up and demand accountability. This is not just a women’s issue; this is a societal crisis. The middle class, so often dismissed as apathetic and complacent, must channel its outrage into action. We must demand reforms that go beyond mere tokenism – reforms that ensure swift and severe punishment for perpetrators, protect survivors from further trauma, and dismantle the cultural norms that breed such violence.
We must also look inward and question our own complicity. How often do we turn a blind eye to harassment, dismissing it as “harmless” or “just the way things are”? How often do we fail to support women who speak out, instead choosing to believe that they “asked for it”? Our silence and inaction are as much a part of the problem as the systemic failures we decry.
The young doctor’s death must not be in vain. Her brutal murder should be the last straw – the moment that galvanises a nation into finally taking decisive action. It is time to stop treating women’s safety as an afterthought and start making it the priority it should have always been.
India cannot claim to be a rising global power, a beacon of democracy, or a land of cultural richness if it continues to be a nation that devalues and dehumanises half its population. We are better than this. We must be better than this. For every daughter who walks these streets, for every mother who lives in fear for her child’s safety, for every woman who dares to dream of a life free from violence – we must demand better.
The time for words has passed. It is time for action, justice, and, most importantly, systemic change. If we fail to act now, we are not just failing our women – we are failing ourselves.
