A doctor was raped and murdered at work. Now India’s women are fighting back
When a young trainee doctor was found dead at the hospital where she worked, there was an outpouring of fury across India. The woman, 31, had been raped and murdered after she went to rest in a seminar room at RG Kar hospital in Kolkata at the end of her shift.
A volunteer police officer, Sanjoy Roy, was charged with rape and murder. His trial began this month in the eastern state of West Bengal and, if convicted, he could face the death penalty. Roy denies the charges.
Since the attack in August, women, anti-domestic violence organisations and feminist groups have been taking action to tackle what they call a crisis of violence against women in India.
Their work includes pushing for compulsory gender and sex education in schools, training police and lawyers to help victims win justice, as well as campaigning for day-to-day changes to help keep working women safe, including 24-hour public transport.
The young woman’s murder prompted a wave of protests as well as a strike by doctors across India. The demonstrations recall the outrage over previous horrific gender-based attacks – particularly the gang-rape, torture and murder of a 22-year-old woman in New Delhi in 2012.
Dr Arshi, a female doctor from Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, attended a protest. She told i: “This incident shook us to our core… I decided to protest because I was overwhelmed with rage, sadness, and horror at what the victim endured.”
She and other protesters recalled many instances of being harassed. “Memories of being eve-teased [sexually harassed by men], touched inappropriately… It’s long overdue for India to have proper rules and regulations for women’s safety, and for these to be enforced without bias,” she said.
Rimjhim Sinha, a campaigner in the Reclaim the Night movement from Kolkata, said many ordinary women who had never participated in political rallies had come out to protest at 300 sites around Bengal. The attack on the doctor “registered itself as proof of the years of despair and anger that has built up in the minds of women, queer, and transgender persons being compelled to [see] case after case, with no sort of constructive redressal systems”, she said.
Soumya Saxena, programme officer with ActionAid Association India in Bhopal, told i: “It is normal to hear about rape and other forms of sexual violence – we daily encounter women who have faced it.” However, she said the doctor’s death felt like a “personal failure”.
Many cases of sexual violence against women go unreported in India due to stigma, but in 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape — a 20 per cent jump from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
“In a sense, it’s a good sign,” Ms Saxena said, pointing out that more women were becoming empowered to report abuse. “Increased reporting is happening because there has been a significant rise in awareness about women’s rights and the importance of reporting crimes, driven by media coverage, activism, and government campaigns.
“High-profile cases often trigger public outrage and motivate other victims to report their experiences. Social media platforms have provided women with a voice and a platform to share their experiences.”
She added that legal reforms and more accessible reporting mechanisms like helplines and women’s police stations had helped.
But while India has laws in place to counter violence against women, “there must be an earnest effort to implement these laws”. She noted the justice system was often slow, delaying or denying survivors justice. “The fear of retribution by family and society and the slow judicial process discourage many women from pursuing legal action,” she said.
Ms Sinha said women were now demanding changes to tackle what many see as a society-wide problem, including making gender, law and sex education a compulsory part of the school curriculum; having 24-hour availability of public transport; impartial and transparent complaints processes at work; and safe and secure bathrooms for women.
At the Gauravi One Stop Crisis Centre in Madhya Pradesh, staff support abused women and run outreach programmes in the community to change attitudes, going into schools and colleges to ensure women know their rights. They also train police to ensure cases are dealt with sensitively, and work with lawyers to hold perpetrators to account.
“Women who are not well versed with the legal processes and judicial procedures can be intimidated when looking to file a complaint,” Ms Saxena, who works with the Gauravi centre, said. “But through legal counselling and hand-holding support provided during her case, she gains the confidence to continue her fight for justice.”
The centre has helped some 10,000 women, many of whom have experienced domestic abuse by an intimate partner and his family. “We see a cultural acceptance of this act by families – a sort of right men have over women to mend her behaviour,” she said.
She recalled the case of Talat, a Muslim woman who left an abusive partner. “When she came to us, she was not just physically abused, but emotionally and mentally,” Ms Saxena said.
Talat received counselling at Gauravi and learned to drive an auto-rickshaw, typically a male-dominated job in India, before buying her own with support from the centre and donors. She now drives it across the country. “The story of Talat inspires many other women who hope to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Ms Saxena said.
Another woman, Mona Singh* came to Gauravi when she was 22 after surviving sexual violence. With the centre’s help, she endured a court battle that ended in her attacker being “duly punished”.
“We supported her to pursue education, and later with higher education,” Ms Saxena said. “At present, she is working in a government telecommunication unit as a computer operator.”
Ms Saxena said such initiatives at “grassroots level”were often successful in mobilising communities to challenge societal norms that condone violence against women. And although there is still plenty to be done, she is hopeful.
“We have come a long way,” she said. “This progress gives hope that gender equality in India will continue to improve. While the path ahead is not without obstacles, the growing momentum for change and the resilience of women and their allies in India suggest that a more equitable and safe future is possible.”
*Name has been changed
