Only questions, No answers

No, she did not shame the rape victim this time. No, she did not debunk the incident as “fabricated,” as she did for the Park Street rape victim in 2012. Nor did she make loose comments, raising questions on the victim’s character as she did for the Hanskhali gangraped minor in 2022. But what she, West Bengal chief minister Mamata, did this time was to let her cops give her proxy.

From the word go, the cops and the hospital administration of R.G.Kar Medical College and Hospital, the workplace where the young PG intern got gang raped in the early hours of August 9th, played by the copy-book---the all too familiar template for a cover-up.

After the body of the victim was discovered at the seminar room around 10 am, at least five and a half hours from the probable time of occurrence of the crime, a phone call from the hospital informed the victim’s parents that she had committed suicide. A case of unnatural death was also registered at the Tala Park police station.

Even as the parents rushed to see their daughter, they were made to pass through some harrowing three odd hours and plead with the cops and fall on their knees to be allowed to see her face. The cops present showed a seizure list of strips of medicine and some medical reports, indicating she was unwell. There were snide remarks that she could be suffering from depression. While an attempt was made to establish the suicide narrative, the Post Mortem report confirmed death by manual strangulation, associated with smothering. Moreover, the victim suffered forceful penetration and sexual assault.

What is intriguing is that why were the victim’s family informed at 10.40 am on August 9th when the official record of discovering the dead body was possibly around 10 am? The principal of the medical college and hospital, Sandeep Ghosh, now facing interrogation by the CBI reportedly told the Assistant Super around 10 am to coordinate with the police and send the body to the morgue at the soonest when the practice is to allow the relatives have a glimpse and wait for four to five hours. According to CBI officials there was extreme haste in conducting the post mortem and cremating the body, eliminating all chances of a second post mortem. The video of the post mortem is also being dubbed as unclear.

Even as the hospital took time, 40 minutes, to break the news to the parents, it was prompt about informing two senior doctors of a powerful lobby, who control the affairs of R.G.Kar Hospital. They were seen to rush into the hospital in the early morning hours, which to many appeared unnatural. Not only this, the cops all along kept Ghosh out of suspicion, whereas he happened to be one of the prime suspects of the CBI. The Central investigative agency summoned him and after a 23 hour of marathon grilling is stumbling on startling revelations, which do not give a clean chit to Ghosh. Incidentally Ghosh had been the centre of the political power hub, that runs the hospital. Allegations of corruption of selling bio-medical waste and promoting unsuccessful MBBS students in exchange of money had been surfacing against him for quite some years. He was transferred on two occasions by the health secretary, but by virtue of being very close to top political bosses, he managed to retain his post as the principal of R.G.Kar twice and within a span of 24 hours.

One understands why Mamata’s cops were dithering to bring him under scanner when over a dozen doctors, nurses and paramedics of the victim’s department on duty on that fateful night, were hauled up for deposition.

The other incident, which is raising doubts over the role of the cops is the way they allowed local hooligans to take over the R.G.Kar Hospital premises on the day “Reclaim the Night” protest was going on. In the presence of protestors and moderately manageable police bandobast, as is expected at the site of protest, a strong crowd of some thousand barged in and ran amok destroying and vandalizing the emergency and the gynecology ward. People suspect the motive of the mob had been to destroy the evidences, that were suspected to be at the site of crime, ie in the seminar room on the third floor. “They were aiming to destroy everything on 2nd floor or the 3rd storey, which they mistook for the 3rd floor, where the victim’s body was discovered, “ said a nurse of the medical college and hospital.

Police admits of being outnumbered by the armed mob. Many confessed that the situation turned so violent that they took covers in the washrooms of the nurses. Many changed their uniform and wore civil clothes to avoid the hooligans. The Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal admitted of security lapse and intelligence failure to gauge the situation. But, Mamata Banerjee was quick to give a political colour to the vandalism. Even as she sniffed blood in the hands of her opponents----the BJP and the Left, of trying to politicise the issue, and “pulling off a Bangladesh”, in her own words, the arrests so far made in connection to the mob fury, are reeking of political allegiance to the ruling party’s local councilors.

The other thing, which has raised suspicion about the R G Kar administration, is the PWD’s enthusiasm to demolish a room and a women’s toilet, barely a few feet away from the scene of crime. The demolition order coming from the principal, a day after the body was found, clearly indicates some malicious intent was at work to tamper with the evidences, that in all probability is likely to lie around in a washroom, nearest to the crime spot. Incidentally, this work was taken up before the CBI were on the job.

With clamour growing against the government and women on social media going full throttle that they need security and safety and not doles like Lakshmir Bhandar, Mamata has launched a security App---Rattirer Sathi, for women on night duty. But women are not likely to be pacified and so soon. They see this as a typical patriarchal mindset which questions women for stepping out at night. The Park Street rape victim faced the same mindset--- “what on earth was she doing with her male friends at a pub and so late in the night,” asked many including some Trinamool Congress leaders. The R G Kar victim also faced the same question from hospital authorities-- “what was she doing at the seminar room so late in the night? Who were the male friends who had dinner with her?”

Hoping to pacify the frayed nerves of a society, shocked and overwhelmed with anger and grief by the rape of a doctor at her workplace which she always considered as her “second home,” the government has urged employers to spare women from night shifts.

Obviously, women are not liking it one bit: they see it as a diktat to force women indoors at night while allowing men the freedom to be on a roll.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. Views personal)