Kolkata Rape Case

A 31-year-old female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s R.G Kar Medical College and Hospital was brutally raped and murdered. This incident has sent shockwaves across the nation, resulting in widespread protests and trying to bring serious concerns about safety in hospitals and medical institutions to light. This incident took place on August 9th and has raised many troubling questions about the negligence of the hospital, possible tampering of evidence, and the role of law enforcement.

Case :

This horrendous act took place on the night of August 9th. A 31-year-old doctor, a second-year postgraduate trainee at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital was having dinner with her juniors. She had just finished a 36-hour shift and one of her juniors suggested she rest in one of the seminar halls in the hospital. So, she decided to rest in the hospital’s seminar hall as it was empty and she wouldn’t be disturbed. The following morning, in the same hall her semi-nude body was found. It sparked concerns that she was raped and then murdered.

What was more concerning about this case was that her parents got a call from the department saying that their daughter committed suicide. This was very concerning, just seeing the state of her body it can be concluded that she was raped and murdered. She did not commit suicide. This spread widespread concern stating “Why did the hospital inform her parents she committed suicide”, and “Who were they protecting”. So many questions and it all seems like a conspiracy. The higher-ups were protecting someone but who? Just by looking at the state her body was anyone can tell it was murder.

The leadership of the hospital was under scrutiny. The head of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh, was asked to go on leave due to his negligence and how he handled this case. Many concerns were raised over his leadership. He even blamed the victim for being raped, saying that she may have dressed in such a way or flirted in a way that she was asking to be raped. I hate this victim blaming, this is how all rape cases go down. Victims get blamed like they were asking to be raped. He also failed to maintain the safety of the staff in the hospital. Due to these allegations and investigation, he then resigned from his post. Surprisingly, he was reinstated as the Principal of Calcutta Medical College within 24 hours. This itself shows that he might be having connections in powerful places.

Doctors felt they were not safe inside the hospital. They halted work and began protesting demanding the perpetrators to be arrested quickly. This protest soon disrupted healthcare services across the country, all medical professionals rapaidly began to take part in this protest.

The investigators found incriminating evidence against a 33-year-old Sanjay Roy who is a civic volunteer who had access to various hospital departments. During the investigation, the police found a torn blue Bluetooth which had linked him to the crime. He had a history of watching violent pornography and he was very abusive towards his wife. All of this was released during the investigation. There are allegations that he had ties to senior police officers, which gave him complete access to all departments in the hospital. The CCTV footage related to the crime was destroyed, which led to allegations of evidence tampering and it became clear that higher-ups were covering this crime. Due to several flaws in this investigation and evidence tampering, the Kolkata High Court transferred this case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

This is still an ongoing investigation. The protest has intensified all over the country. It got to a point where a group of men broke into the R.G Kar Medical College Hospital and vandalized the emergency and nursing departments. In protest of rape and murder, Indian Medical Association (IMA) had announced nationwide withdrawal of service for 24 hours on August 17. There was an increase across the country which demanded maximum punishment for the accused.