Nationwide protests in India attracted thousands in support of doctors striking to protest rampant violence against them on Tuesday and into Wednesday, when the nation marked its Independence Day.
The doctors’ strike began on Monday in response to a particularly repulsive crime: the rape and killing of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at a public hospital in Kolkata, allegedly committed by a local civilian police volunteer who regularly impersonated a police officer and behaved inappropriately at the hospital. It is not clear that the suspect, who reportedly confessed, had any reason to be at the hospital.
The doctor’s body was found in a seminar hall at the hospital, fueling outrage at the lack of security the government provides to health workers, especially women, in a crisis experts have described as a “rape epidemic” in the country. Rape is so common in India, including rape-murders and gang rapes, that the United States government has issued travel warnings for India in the past due to the high incidence of rape.
The crime in Kolkata and protests in response overshadowed Independence Day festivities, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not avoid the subject in his Independence Day speech. Modi used his remarks to condemn violence against women, declaring that perpetrators of “demonic” acts such as rape would be swiftly “hanged.”
“As a society, we will have to think seriously about the atrocities against our mothers, sisters, and daughters. There is anger among common people because of this. I can feel that rage,” Modi told those assembled before Delhi’s historic Red Fort. “Crimes against women should be probed swiftly, and stringent punishment given to those who commit such demonic acts.”
“Those who commit such sins should know that they will be hanged,” Modi continued, according to the Indian newspaper the Hindu.
Modi reportedly used the address to discuss women’s rights more generally, beyond the pervasive issue of criminal violence. The prime minister declared that he would support extended maternity leave for working women and praised Indian women for “becoming economically self-reliant.”
The broader context of Modi’s speech was a national protest that organizers described as “for women’s independence on the midnight of independence,” beginning on Tuesday evening and continuing into the early morning hours of Wednesday. The assemblies attracted thousands of people, multiple media outlets reported, demanding that Indian law enforcement authorities take the rape and murder of women seriously and crack down on criminals.
While the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, Indian media reported that a group of individuals attacked the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata – the site of the recent rape and homicide – destroying police vehicles and hospital property, as well as physically assaulting the protesters themselves.
“A mob of miscreants entered the hospital. The agitating doctors were attacked and had to flee,” senior resident Subhendu Mullick told the Indian World Is One News agency (WION). “They even tried to enter the building where the junior doctor was raped and murdered. Police stood as mute spectators.”
Police ultimately used tear gas to vacate the area, but doctors report being attacked for a long time before police acted.
The Kolkata case has attracted significant attention in part due to the brutality of the injuries documented on the victim. The unnamed resident doctor reportedly suffered gruesome injuries on her eyes and face as well as injuries consistent with rape. On Thursday, the results of an autopsy revealed the possibility that multiple people were involved in the attack.
“The autopsy report is proof of the brutality she had to encounter, the presence of more than one person, and that she was sexually assaulted more than once. This is bestiality at its worst,” Dr. Subarna Goswami told the Press Trust of India (PTI), analyzing the autopsy report. Reports citing the autopsy report said that it detailed injuries consistent with “genital torture.”
Police have so far arrested only one man in connection to the crime: Sanjoy Roy, who reportedly confessed to the crime immediately. Reports in Indian media suggest Roy was “frequently” on the hospital campus despite not having any legitimate reason to be there, often impersonated a police officer, and was allegedly addicted to violent pornography, which police found on his mobile phone.
“The pornography content in his mobile phone was quite disturbing and violent. We wonder about the state of his mind as watching such things is quite unnatural,” police told the Hindu.
A second incident of violent sexual crime against health workers surfaced on Thursday following the arrest of a man on charges of raping and killing a nurse in Uttarakhand. The woman is believed to have been killed on July 30, but police only recently arrested Dharmendra Kumar, a man described as a “wage labourer.”
“The accused is a (drug) addict and does not know the woman,” Senior Superintendent of Police Manjunath T C told the Indian Express. “As per our information, he stopped the woman, who fought back fiercely. She was, however, overpowered and … [he] strangled her to death. He also sexually assaulted her. After the murder, he took the woman’s belongings and escaped.”
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