If one may borrow from the title of one of Gunter Grass's famous plays, The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising; they are already in one. The spontaneity, volume, and expanse of participation visible this time have not been witnessed in many years. They are demanding justice.
The sad incident of rape and murder of a doctor on duty in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, on the night of August 9 triggered this uprising. The incident has convulsed the entire nation. India’s head is bowed in shame. The surgeon and physician after whom the hospital and medical college is named, Dr RG Kar, also fought for social reform centred on women’s issues. He must be turning in his grave. Citizens thronged the streets spontaneously and started to march, condemning the crime and demanding safety and security for doctors on duty and women in society. Streets not just in Kolkata, but across the nation saw such marches. And as the news spread, so did streets in distant parts of the world. Just over the weekend, on August 24, scientists, research scholars, and students marched on the streets of Kolkata demanding justice: “We march together today for a safer society tomorrow.” The gruesome crime has hit the psyche of the entire nation. The solidarity expressed is beyond imagination. Citizens have realised that collective security relies on solidarity. Indeed, one poster in the August 24 march read, “Raise your voice or you are next”.
The Indian Medical Association, in a memorandum submitted to the Union health minister, stated, “Doctors in this country have been suffering for the past few decades due to the violence unleashed on them. Pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workloads, and violence in the workplace are a reality.” And when there is violence in the workplace, the police are usually evasive, as in the present case. The Supreme Court, on August 22, termed the Kolkata Police’s delay in registering the death of the woman doctor as “extremely disturbing”. “How was it that the post-mortem was conducted at 6.10 pm on August 9 and yet the unnatural death information was sent to the police station at 11.30 pm?” The Chief Justice of India asked, in view of the delay in filing the FIR, “The principal of the college should have come straight to the college and filed the FIR. Whom is he protecting?” The government, for its part, took steps to protect the former principal of the college, who held this office when the crime occurred. Instead of forcing him to go on leave so that the investigations into the crime could proceed without prejudice, the government transferred him to the head of another medical college in Kolkata.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian Medical Association, in a memorandum submitted to the Union health minister, stated, “Doctors in this country have been suffering for the past few decades due to the violence unleashed on them. Pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workloads, and violence in the workplace are a reality.” And when there is violence in the workplace, the police are usually evasive, as in the present case. The Supreme Court, on August 22, termed the Kolkata Police’s delay in registering the death of the woman doctor as “extremely disturbing”. “How was it that the post-mortem was conducted at 6.10 pm on August 9 and yet the unnatural death information was sent to the police station at 11.30 pm?” The Chief Justice of India asked, in view of the delay in filing the FIR, “The principal of the college should have come straight to the college and filed the FIR. Whom is he protecting?” The government, for its part, took steps to protect the former principal of the college, who held this office when the crime occurred. Instead of forcing him to go on leave so that the investigations into the crime could proceed without prejudice, the government transferred him to the head of another medical college in Kolkata.
{{/usCountry}}The order was withdrawn after intense public pressure. Many instances of corruption and maladministration by the principal have since been revealed and are now being investigated. There are strong reasons to believe that governments often know the nature and extent of the misdeeds of many of their employees at the helm of various affairs but, for reasons that we can well speculate on, such people are not pulled up and are instead allowed to continue with their nefarious activities.
The lackeys of such persons also get protection and gain the power to engage in various anti-social activities. The result of all this is the degradation of the moral fabric of society. The degradation is obvious not just in West Bengal but also at the pan-India level. It, however, appears that the mass uprising that has taken place in West Bengal will soon be hijacked and given a political colour. Some political parties have started an agitation demanding the resignation of the chief minister of West Bengal over this incident instead of demanding a just and secure society and making a collective effort to ensure that. Isn’t it a shame that India ranks 128th out of 177 countries for women’s inclusion, justice, and security, as per one index? Every year, our country registers high rates of violence against women. Over 31,000 rapes were reported in 2022, but the actual rate is likely much higher, as many women do not report such crimes due to fear of reprisal and stigma. Isn’t it a shame that among the rape cases that go to trial in India, only about 25% see convictions?
As the Indian Medical Association stated in its memo to the health minister, “The murder of this young lady (doctor) is not the first, neither it would be the last if corrective measures are not taken.” Doctors affiliated with the British Medical Association, said, “We stand in solidarity with doctors in Kolkata and across India at this upsetting time, and support their call over urgent measures to improve the safety of female doctors in the workplace, including providing secure and private spaces for doctors to use while on shift.”
“Our state, our country and the whole world are asking for justice for our daughter,” the victim’s father said. As a poster in the August 24 march for justice read, “She wanted to treat humans who are ill. She wasn’t aware that our society is ill, that our society needs treatment first.”
Partha P Majumder is National Science Chair (Scientific Excellence), Science and Engineering Board, Government of India, and distinguished professor, John C Martin Centre for Liver Research and Innovations. The views expressed are personal
*Note: The author is referring to The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising, a 1966 play written by the Nobel-winning German writer, Gunter Grass. The print version of Majumder's article started with "The masses are not rehearsing for an uprising; they are already in one."