At the stroke of midnight on 15 August 2024, as India ushered in its 78th year of independence, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Kolkata to protest the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and to ‘reclaim the night’.
Protests have taken place in Kolkata before – it’s in the city’s DNA. However, the scale of this midnight protest was larger than any in recent times.
Women filled the streets of the city, small towns, and districts across West Bengal, holding candles, placards, flaming torches, and blowing conch shells – blurring socio-economic class lines. Men also joined in, in a show of solidarity.
It was an uprising against systemic failure – a display of defiance that has spread beyond Kolkata, West Bengal, and even India.
The Opposition – the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the BJP – has turned up the heat on the establishment. The medical fraternity is seething with anger and disappointment, and some Trinamool leaders have spoken out against the incident.
Kolkata is simmering
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the health and home minister, finds herself in a difficult position. On Friday, she led a protest march demanding “justice” and set a Sunday deadline for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conclude the probe.
However, this did little to temper the smouldering anger, and protests continued.
On Saturday, the Bengal government announced a series of measures to provide safe working conditions for women in government hospitals, medical colleges, hostels, and other places where women work during the night.
A statement from the government said that after the RG Kar incident, the Bengal government has embarked on “introspection, accountability, and action.”
The night in question
Why has the rape and murder of the RG Kar trainee doctor left the administration red-faced? The answer lies in the sequence of events.
On 9 August, at around 11:30 pm, the trainee doctor spoke to her parents and reportedly “sounded in good spirits”.
At about 10:53 am on 10 August, the parents received a call allegedly from the assistant superintendent of RG Kar, informing them that their daughter was unwell.
Approximately 22 minutes later, the same person allegedly conveyed to the parents that their daughter had committed suicide on the hospital premises.
There were bleeding injuries on the body, and the cause of death was reportedly throttling and smothering.
The brutality of the incident involving a female doctor on duty at a government hospital sent shockwaves not only through the medical fraternity but also throughout society at large.
Agitations by junior doctors at government hospitals began soon after. They alleged a cover-up by RG Kar principal, Sandip Ghosh, and demanded his removal.
Ghosh resigned on Monday (12 August) but was reinstated as principal of the National Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, within hours – a major misstep by the government.
The Calcutta High Court noted, “It is not clear as to what was the tearing urgency in doing so.” The court directed him to “immediately proceed on leave”.
Taking note of the widespread agitation at medical institutions across West Bengal, the court transferred the investigation to the CBI to instil public confidence.
The order was passed on a batch of petitions filed by the victim’s parents, the leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, and others.
‘Reclaiming the Night’
While Opposition parties are quick to reap political dividends, the protest has the flavour of a mass movement.
It was 29-year-old Rimjhim Sinha who first sounded the clarion call on social media to ‘reclaim the night’. The trigger was Sandip Ghosh, who initially tried to dismiss the case as a suicide and reportedly said, “It was irresponsible of the girl to go to the seminar hall alone at night.”
A postgraduate in sociology from Presidency University and now a researcher, Sinha made a short post “Raat ke dokhol koro” – it was like a flame setting the fire alight.
“Every time we come across a rape case or any kind of sexual harassment towards the marginalised gender communities, including women, transgender people, queer people, it is always portrayed as though it was the victim’s fault. I find this unacceptable,” Sinha told Business Standard.
“Therefore, I wanted to celebrate independence as a woman on the night of 15 August. And I wanted to stay out the entire night,” Sinha said.
Sinha thought the post on Facebook would be supported by her friends in the city who had previously protested against heinous crimes. But it did much more than that.
‘Reclaim the Night’ has its roots in Leeds, United Kingdom. When the British police struggled to apprehend the “Yorkshire Ripper”, a serial killer who sexually assaulted his victims, they asked women to stay out of public spaces after dark. Women marched to protest the curfew imposed on them. That was in 1977.
But the march for gender equality continues.
The gatherings on 14/15 August were spread across the city. However, at RG Kar, the night was also claimed by a mob that vandalised the hospital, which the police initially failed to contain.
Chinks in the Armour?
Mamata Banerjee has blamed the CPI(M) and the BJP for the vandalism at RG Kar.
According to her, they joined the protests not out of concern for the girl and her family, but because they resent Lakshmir Bhandar. Lakshmir Bhandar, a monthly basic income scheme for women, is the showstopper among Banerjee’s several welfare schemes – it’s one of the key factors in her electoral success.
The question circulating is whether the women-centric outrage will affect her support base. The BJP and the CPI(M) believe it will have a far-reaching impact.
“In rural Bengal, women voters are compelled to cast their votes in favour of the Trinamool Congress due to tremendous oppression. They are intimidated with the threat that Lakshmir Bhandar and all other schemes will be stopped,” Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson for the BJP in Bengal, said.
Bhattacharya believes that the RG Kar incident will have an impact on Bengal politics. Pointing to the midnight march, he said, “It’s not just the upper class or the upper and lower middle class that were seen – hawkers, rickshaw drivers, domestic help also participated.”
CPI(M)’s state secretary, Mohammed Salim, says that no political party should claim the midnight protest as their own. However, he added that it was Left-oriented. “It is progressive and secular, cutting across class barriers. We have just acted as a force multiplier.”
He also pointed out that the anger spilling onto the streets is not against the Trinamool Congress, but against the administration and the police.
Political analysts, however, differ on the fallout.
Political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury said, “The crisis for the government is precipitating fast due to several missteps.”
However, he added that it was a complex situation. “RG Kar is a referral hospital for North 24 Parganas. This is an essential service. If protests continue, no matter how genuine the demands, there could be a backlash from patient families.”
Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty acknowledged that the scale of protest was unprecedented but said it would have no immediate impact on politics and votes. “It remains to be seen whether any political platform emerges out of this crisis.”