Opinion Express View on R G Kar verdict: Despite closure, questions remain

Nearly six months after he was arrested for the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year, the Sealdah Court awarded a life sentence to Sanjay Roy on Monday. The verdict offers a semblance of closure for the irreparable loss of a young life in a metropolis that prides itself for its progressive traditions and safe spaces, especially for women. The road ahead now must concern itself with the task of rebuilding citizen trust in the city.

The public outrage triggered by the incident at RG Kar rippled across the country last year. In Kolkata, agitating doctors had flagged issues that continue to haunt institutions and public spaces — CCTV cameras that don’t work, absence of on-call rooms, gender-segregated wash rooms, lack of a centralised patient referral system and inadequate security measures that have rendered doctors increasingly vulnerable to violence. They were speaking for West Bengal but their demands and complaints could hold true for any city in India. When it comes to women’s safety, there continues to be a yawning chasm between intentions and outcomes. For instance, the 100 per cent increase in the budgetary allocation of the Nirbhaya Fund for 2024-25 notwithstanding, data shows that between 2013, when the fund was set up, and 2022, less than half of the allocation had been used. In the aftermath of the RG Kar incident, the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024, was passed by the state assembly, seeking speedy trials and death penalty for heinous crimes against women. Expediting cases and ensuring that there is a restraint of the law — rather than a sense of impunity — are crucial for deterring future incidents. But it must also come with safeguards against knee-jerk reactions and quick-fix solutions.

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For long, Bengal has been a place where women have been at the centre of a development narrative. Women also form the core of the electoral base of the current ruling party, TMC, bolstered by Mamata Banerjee’s women-oriented schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar and Kanyashree. The party has the highest proportion of women in the Lok Sabha. In the initial days after the incident, Banerjee had chosen to be blinkered, refusing to hear the rumblings both within her party and in the city-wide agitations. She acceded eventually to the requests of agitating doctors to look into their grievances. At the Sealdah court, as the victim’s father refused compensation, the judge said, “I don’t think money can compensate (for) any death. It was the liability of state to protect your daughter as she was on duty…” No amount of retroactive action can make up for the senseless loss of a loved one to violence. But this is the moment for the state and society to affirm the commitment to make good on promises of empowerment and equality. Gender-sensitive design and policy should be integrated into city planning, women’s mobility must not come at the cost of their safety. Most of all, larger conversations on gender are needed, across spectrums.