By Rita Joseph
INDIA – Christian leaders joined widespread condemnation of the rape and murder of a young medic in a government hospital in India’s eastern state of West Bengal.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) voiced its deep anguish and denounced the attack on a 31-year-old trainee doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Aug 9, demanding stronger protections for women in the workplace.
“This horrific crime is an assault on the dignity of all women. We demand swift justice and the strictest punishment for those responsible,” stated CBCI president Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur in a statement.
According to reports, the doctor – who has not been named – had gone to the seminar hall of the hospital to rest at 2.00 am after a 36-hour shift. In the morning, her parents were told that she had committed suicide.
After the father saw his daughter’s semi-nude body, bleeding from multiple injuries, he immediately filed a First Information Report with the police. But the hospital authorities had already filed a report of “unnatural death”.
The family, who filed a petition in the Kolkata High Court, alleged it was a gang rape and murder as multiple injuries were inflicted. They said an autopsy report had found death was caused by strangulation, and that there were clear signs of sexual assault by multiple men judging by the quantity of semen found.
Asir Ebenezer, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of India (NCCI), said the Government must bring the culprits to book without any further delay, and take action against all those who have acted irresponsibly and without basic sensitivities.
“We offer sincere prayers that the soul of the departed be reposed in God, and everlasting peace be upon the parents, siblings and all the members of the family,” he said.
The Catholic bishops’ statement also extended condolences to the victim’s family and prayed for her soul’s eternal rest. “We stand in full solidarity with the medical fraternity, particularly the doctors, and nursing officers who serve society with dedication and commitment,” they said.
Tens of thousands of medics took to the streets to protest the crime, demanding immediate action against the culprits and measures to secure a safer work environment.
On Aug 20 the Supreme Court acknowledged the incident suo moto, and set up a national task force of doctors to make recommendations on workplace safety.
Noting attacks and vandalism at the hospital on Aug 14 and allegations that the state police failed to protect it, the court ordered a federal paramilitary force to provide security.
They also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a report on Aug 22 on the status of its investigation into the murder, and ordered the state government to submit a report on the probe into the acts of vandalism.
“Protecting the safety of doctors and women doctors is a matter of national interest and principle of equality. The nation cannot await another rape for it to take some steps,” Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said.
India’s laws against sexual assault on women were made more stringent 12 years ago after the gang rape of medical student aboard a moving bus in New Delhi, but sexual violence remains pervasive across the country.
In 2022, the last year for which records are available, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape – a 20 per cent increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Police have arrested one man, named as Sanjoy Roy, a volunteer alleged to have access to most departments of the hospital.
The CBI also interrogated the college’s principal Dr Sandip Ghosh, who resigned after the incident. – The Tablet
