Will Kolkata’s Abhaya make hospitals safer for the sisters she leaves behind?
Or will public memory fade and all healthcare staff continue to fear for their lives while trying to save our lives?
Will the August 9 rape-murder of a promising trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital be the last time female healthcare staff fear for their lives while trying to save our lives? Referred to as Abhaya (which ironically, means fearlessness or safe in Sanskrit), will we ever know if she paid the price for trying to expose financial irregularities at the hospital?
But Abhaya was chosen to refer to an earlier rape-sexual assault case involving a young medico, who was called, Nirbhaya, (fearless or the fearless one in Hindi). In December 2012, a young 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a moving bus in Delhi. She succumbed to her injuries 13 days later. Though the Nirbhaya case took eight years to award capital punishment to the perpetrators, it resulted in legal reforms which broadened the definition of rape and also increased the penalties.
The Kolkata case has become a series of #MeToo moments for India’s healthcare staff, with social media throwing up numerous instances of similar harassment, including cases of senior doctors abusing juniors, threatening to fail them in their exams etc. Cases of patients being sexually abused under anesthesia or during physical check-ups too have been highlighted over the past few days. All this, while touting India as a medical travel destination, to capture a larger portion of international patients. Is their safety guaranteed simply because they are treated in private hospitals, with better security, rather than at poorly funded public hospitals and medical colleges?
The public outcry and protests by doctors seems to be having some impact. As per media reports, the West Bengal Assembly has unanimously passed the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, with a voice vote on September 3, 2024. The bill proposes to seek capital punishment for persons convicted of rape if their actions result in the victim’s death or leave her in a vegetative state. The bill also stipulates a life sentence without parole for those convicted of rape and gang rape and aims to strengthen protections for women and children by revising and introducing new provisions related to rape and sexual offences.
The bill could prove to be political posturing after the West Bengal government was pulled up by the Supreme Court for lapses in the handling of the case in the crucial initial days, but it is a good start. Will Abhaya’s death result in similar reforms at the national level, especially for female healthcare staff? Will it take laws to make hospitals safer workplaces? And what is the guarantee that these laws will be effectively enforced?
nforced? Or will public memory fade and all healthcare staff continue to fear patients, relatives and political workers who hit out when they expect a life-saving miracle from mere human hands? After all, we forgot nurse Aruna Shanbhag. The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud cited her case during the hearing of the Kolkata case, to remind us that such violence against female medical staff is a chronic long-term problem. Shanbhag was raped and attacked in Mumbai’s KEM Hospital by a sweeper/ward boy who she had complained about. She spent over four decades in a vegetative state, passing away in 2015.
CJI Chandrachud’s statement blaming “ingrained patriarchal biases” towards women doctors and his warning that “as more women join the workforce, the nation cannot wait for another rape for real changes on the ground”, gives us hope that Abhaya’s death will not be in vain.
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