‘Rape’ of the law

The decision by the Supreme Court of India to take suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a female medico in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital should be welcomed by all those who believe in the supremacy of law and delivery of justice to the victim.

The court’s action has necessarily been prompted by the quite noticeable attempt by authorities in the state to distort the course of investigation and protect the culprits.

The incident which happened on August 9 has stirred the conscience of the nation. It will be a folly to interpret the protesting voices as ones demanding a mere safe environment for healthcare professionals in hospitals.

These point to anguish over a deeper malaise and systemic failure of the administration in West Bengal, subversion of the mechanism of investigation and justice and betrays a deep collusion between perpetrators of the brutal rape and murder and the hospital administration and police in what seems to be an attempt to cover up the entire incident.

But even more grotesquely, the powers-that are supposed to deliver justice, are found carrying out a charade of demanding justice on the streets of Kolkata. Any observer of what has been happenng in Bengal, the land of Indian renaissance, would be left dumbfounded.

That a female doctor on a 36-hour duty should be raped, murdered, mutilated and cremated in haste, is no simple crime to be ignored.

That the administration changes its version from sickness, accidental death, suicide and then to rape and murder, refuses to file an FIR, carries out an autopsy at lightning speed, denies the close family members a view of the corpse and rushes for cremation of the body, constitutes not merely a series of crimes, but also points to an attempt to cover up the track littered with umpteen irregularities.

Not this alone, the College Principal resigns and within hours is rewarded with another cushy posting. Nothing explains the inexplicable, amateurish and kneejerk action.

Soon thereafter, vandals unleash mayhem and a team of engineers descends on the spot, demolishes interiors preserving vital details of the crime and launches renovation work.

Scarcely any barbarity has been spared in cynical and brutal manipulation of the criminal act designed to protecting the perpetrators. Humans are known to commit such perverted acts.

But the RG Kar Medical College episode goes beyond the limits of viciousness and opens a new chapter in human ingenuity in clearing the tracks. The multi-layered brutality witnessed in the act calls for similar ingenuity to uncover, expose and bring to book those involved in this sinister collusion including the authorities and rapist/s.

The macabre show and exercise of authority by so-called volunteers who are allowed to roam free in the corridors of the hospital (and reportedly in all government offices) serves to remind us that nothing has changed in the state which threw away the yoke of Leftist rule 13 years ago.It has been merely replaced by cadres of the Trinamool Congress.

They can heap all kinds of brutality on the hapless masses, the police force can turn and tweak cases as dictated by the new bosses in Writer’s Building, harass any citizen, intimidate victims into silence and hurl fictitious cases on innocents.

The rot in West Bengal is certainly deeper than imagined. It has reached such toxic, chronic and lethal levels that hopes of redemption are getting bleaker every moment.