Kolkata R@pe Case: Why is India So Unsafe for Women?
Hello, friends! The heinous crime that took place with a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata’s R.G.Kar hospital has shocked our nation’s soul. We have seen protests in many parts of the country including West Bengal. Doctors have gone on strike, the protesters were attacked by goons, and the hospital was being ransacked. So far, the police have arrested 25 people.
Everyone is questioning Mamata Banerjee, who is not only the Chief Minister of West Bengal but also the Home Minister and Health Minister of West Bengal. It was strange to see her take out a protest rally after this incident. But the question is, against whom? No one could understand this.
The main culprit of this incident is Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer in West Bengal Police. In the past, three of his marriages ended due to domestic violence. The first question is, what kind of a person was recruited here to become a civic volunteer? Looking at his history of domestic violence, police should have taken action against him already.
CCTV footage, his Bluetooth device, and DNA samples were used by the police to arrest him. He has confessed to his crime. But the second question is, how did he have access to all the departments in the hospital?
A few days after the incident, there was a demand to transfer this case to CBI. CM Mamata Banerjee tried to shrug off this demand by saying that she has no problem with this. If the police couldn’t do anything in the next few days, she said that she would transfer this case to CBI. The Calcutta High Court, while citing reasons such as lack of trustworthiness of the police, ordered the case to be handed over to CBI.
Along with this, the High Court has also reminded that the demand to hand over a case to the CBI shows that the state police is no longer trusted by the people. And this is the failure of the Home Minister and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Corruption and Injustice in R.G.Kar Hospital
Here comes our third question: how was a man like Sandeep Ghosh appointed as the principal of R.G.Kar Medical College? He is accused of being a corrupt person. Allegedly, he ran this medical college like a mafia. But his transfer was stopped again and again. It’s suspected to be because he was close to TMC. In this case too, he is accused of atrocities. He is accused of trying to suppress the matter, trying to play it off as a suicide. The victim’s parents were not allowed to see the victim’s body for hours. There was a delay in filing the FIR, and when he was removed from there, he was made the principal of Calcutta National College. I mean, if a person is not fit to be in charge of one place, what sense does it make to transfer him to another place?
The Calcutta High Court pointed out this nonsense and sent Sandeep Ghosh on an extended leave of absence. To investigate the corruption charges on Sandeep, the West Bengal government has made an SIT, which is asked to submit its report in a month. CBI has interrogated him four times in this particular case.
The Larger Picture: Beyond One Case
When people all over the country wanted justice for this case, then for the safety of women in workplaces, the West Bengal government announced some initiatives. The Supreme Court took a suo-moto cognizance of the matter, gave some strong statements like “What is equality under the Constitution if women can’t be safe in their workplace and are being denied basic equality?” To bring about ground level changes, the country can’t wait for another r@pe.
A few days ago, I wrote a post on this case and asked you not to “lose your interest” in this issue. By the time this video is released, maybe the outrage will be over, maybe the protests will have stopped. But will the nearly 80 r@pe cases taking place in our country every day have stopped? Not at all.
After Kolkata, we got this news from Uttarakhand. A similar incident with a nurse. In this case, the bus driver and bus conductor were involved. In Bengaluru, a 21-year-old college student was going home from a party when a similar incident happened to her. In Maharashtra’s Badalapur area, a school cleaning staff was reported to have s€xually abused two girls aged 3 and 4. Hundreds of agitated parents blocked the railway station.
Looking at these news, you may feel that over the last 8-10 days there have been more incidents of r@pes in the country. But this is not true. r@pes are happening every day, but they are not reported every day. Outrage and protests do not happen every day.
The first large-scale protests in the country were probably in 2012 after the Nirbhaya case. Then in 2019, when a 26-year-old veterinary doctor was r@ped and mu₹dered in Hyderabad. Then in 2020, people were outraged about the Hathras case, where this happened to a 19-year-old Dalit girl. And now in 2024, this case happened in Kolkata.
Over the last 12 years, there were 4 large-scale outrages and protests. Maybe I’m even forgetting a few cases, but broadly speaking, there haven’t been more than 7-8 outrages and protests. And it’s not that there is something wrong with being outraged. Feeling outraged after hearing something like this is a natural emotion. Protesting is also a sign of our being alive.
But there needs to be some improvement in the situation. If we look at the situation from 2012 to now, it has been the opposite. Around 2012, 25,000 such cases were reported in a year. Whereas according to the latest figures of NCRB, in 2022, 31,000 such cases were reported, that is, 85 r@pe cases per day. If we compare the proportion with the increasing population, we can see a leap there too. Since then, the country’s population has increased by 1.14 times. But the r@pe cases have increased by 1.25 times. It’s clear as day, the situation is getting worse.
The Uncomfortable Truth: Our Role in the Problem
The root causes of r@pe, not only do they continue to exist, but are even increasing. This is why I feel absurdity. It’s okay to protest for a week, but for the rest of the year, if a person is behaving like everything is fine, it’s absurd.
What should be done to improve the situation? Are you ready for this uncomfortable discussion? This discussion will be uncomfortable because you will perhaps see that many of you are indirectly a part of this problem. Will you acknowledge this? I don’t know.
Because Vir Das simply said that we are living in Two Indias. On one hand, women are worshipped in our country, and on the other hand, they are subjected to heinous crimes. It wasn’t incorrect, but people took offense. Similarly, after the Nirbhaya case, Leslee Udwin released a documentary: India’s Daughter. It was such a powerful and thought-provoking documentary that it should have been shown to 10th-grade students all over the country. But in our country, people were uncomfortable and banned this documentary, claiming that this would ruin India’s international image.
After today’s discussion too, you may feel uncomfortable like this. But if you are genuinely concerned about this issue, then watch the video till the end, and the steps we will discuss as the solution, let’s be a part of the solution.
The Root Causes: From Toxic Masculinity to Societal Attitudes
Let’s start this video with a very simple question: Is r@pe wrong? You will accuse me of asking an insensitive question. Obviously, r@pe is wrong.
But when we look at the societal attitudes around us, then we get a completely different picture. Everyone says that r@pe is wrong, but everyone applies their own conditions to it.
Take Nupur Sharma, for example. The BJP leader who said objectionable things about Prophet Mohammad thrice in a single day on three different TV channels. I had made a video criticising this in which I explained how Nupur’s statements were completely deliberate and malicious. And because of this, our country was embarrassed in front of Arab countries. But merely because of Nupur’s misstatements, is it justified to send her r@pe threats? Not at all. God knows how many de@th threats and r@pe threats she received, which can’t be justified in a civilized society.
Look at Audrey Truschke’s case. She is a trained historian. She has written about Aurangzeb a lot. She hasn’t called Aurangzeb a great ruler. But according to her findings, Aurangzeb was a complicated character. On one hand, he broke down Hindu temples, and on the other hand, had saved them many times. If someone finds her historical findings wrong, they are free to argue with her, can present evidence against her claims. But no, what do people give? De@th threats and r@pe threats.
Look at Indira Jaising’s case. Famous human rights lawyer. In her fight for gender equality, she appeared in many landmark cases. When Nirbhaya’s r@pist was about to be hanged, she made a statement against capital punishment. For context, the de@th penalty has been abolished in 112 countries. Still, it can be argued that Indira Jaising’s statement was ill-timed, wrongly worded, or it was wrong of her to make such an appeal to Nirbhaya’s parents. We may disagree with her views on the de@th penalty, but what did Kangana Ranaut say? She called her a r@pist sympathiser. Not only that, she was Jaising to be jailed with the r@pists for some days.
This trap of political opinion or political support makes it possible for Bilkis Bano’s convicted r@pists to be released. Such r@pists are welcomed and honored, are called modest Brahmins, but people don’t outrage. Prajwal Revanna, who was reported for s€xually exploiting more than 2,500 women, but many chose to remain silent. Convicted r@pist Gurmeet Ram Rahim is given parole before the elections again and again. His blind devotees agree that r@ping is wrong, they acknowledge that their leader was convicted too, but still, they choose to ignore this and vote for the person their leader tells them to.
Brij Bhusan Singh, Kuldeep Sengar, and the Kathua case’s r@pists get rallies supporting them. And BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh who was holding a rally in support of the r@pe accused was later included in Congress and was given a ticket for the election.
That’s why I say, on social media, everyone agrees that r@pe is wrong. But when it comes to supporting the r@pist, when it comes down to their political opinion and their own views, then people apply ‘conditions’ to it. If you do not agree with someone, you can criticise them. If they have done something illegal, report them to the police. But r@pe is wrong. Full stop. Giving r@pe threats is wrong. Full stop.
But the problem is that people keep on adding ifs and buts. And it’s not just limited to sociopolitical opinion. In fact, in numerous other provisions too, people apply ‘conditions’.
The “Ifs and Buts” of Victim Blaming: A Deep-Rooted Problem
For the Hathras case, on Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary said that the victim had romantic relations with the accused. To prove this, he interviewed a villager. News18’s reporter Anamika kept shouting for 45 minutes on a show that there were 104 calls from the victim to the accused’s number, they had been talking for hours. She claimed to be delivering the truth to you. Arnab Goswami went as far as to say that there was no r@pe, and the accusations were baseless. BJP leader and former Chief Minister of Haryana, Manoharlal Khattar said something similar. He claims that in 80%-90% cases, the accused and the victim know each other, and if they get into a fight, the girl accuses the boy of r@pe.
We have heard similar insensitive statements from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. For example, the 2022 Nadia r@pe case, where a 14-year-old child was the victim. The CM said that the girl had a love affair with the boy. It feels awkward debunking such statements. Do we really need to explain that being in love doesn’t mean a license to r@pe?
It’s very simple: r@pe means a violation. It is a violation of someone’s freedom. No matter how much a person is in love with another, both partners need to consent. Consent means agreement. The girl’s consent is crucial, and the second thing is that consent is reversible. That means the boy or girl can withdraw their consent whenever they want. Everyone has the right to withdraw their consent at any time. Thirdly, the case Mamata Banerjee was speaking about, the victim was a minor. And in cases of minors, consent is not even considered. Earlier, the consenting age was 16 years, but under the POCSO Act of 2012, this age was increased to 18 years.
Now, the first thing we saw: people’s sociopolitical opinion. Second: love affair, being in a romantic relationship. Third, the ‘if and but’ condition of people is, “What was the girl doing out so late at night?” Two minors were r@ped in Goa. BJP leader and Goa’s chief minister, Pramod Sawant asked, “Why were the girls out at night?” When a tribal girl was r@ped and mu₹dered in Jharkhand, then an MLA of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha said the same thing. He blamed the victim’s parents and asked them why do they let their daughters go out after evening.
Do you know what is interesting? One of Nirbhaya’s r@pists, Mukesh Singh thought the same. He believed that if a girl goes out at night and wears “wrong” clothes, then she is responsible for the r@pe.
Once again, this is utter nonsense. r@pes don’t happen because girls are out at night, they happen because r@pists are out at night. If someone thinks that their child is a potential r@pist, then they need to keep their child locked up in their house at night.
Secondly, year after year, NCRB reports show that in more than 90% of the cases, the accused was someone close to the victim. In the 2015 report, 95% of the accused knew the victim, 93% in 2017, and 96.8% in 2021. This includes neighbours, friends, co-workers, immediate family members, and relatives too. In November 2020, Delhi police handed over a report to a Parliamentary Panel that stated similar data. In the cases that took place in Delhi, in 98% of the cases, the accused was close to the victim. In 57% of cases, it was a family member, a relative, or family friend. This is seen in other countries too. In America, it was found that in 80% of cases, the victim and accused knew each other.
So in most cases, when someone close to the victim assaults them, then how does it matter whether a girl goes out at night or not?
The fourth condition is the victim’s “loose character.” It is said that though s€xual harassment is wrong, but it was a sign of the girl’s loose character.
The Perpetuation of Rape Culture: From Films to Songs
“Drinking and going out with guys, girls like her do these. Not girls from decent families. This is what happens to such girls. If she calmly goes with a guy and drinks with him, any guy would think that they are asking for it. Or else why would they go with them, drink with them?”
In the protests against r@pe, we often hear that women are the form of goddesses. She is someone’s daughter, sister, or mother. But another problem is that people either see women as goddesses, or they see them as mere objects. Why not treat them as humans instead? Like a man, every woman is a human too. Whether this woman is a local stage dancer or even a s€x worker, our Constitution gives her a right to freedom like everyone else.
But then what are the dialogues we get in films? “Saving the dignity of a s€x worker and imprisoning Tees Mar Khan are both useless!” Some people with a r@pist mentality think that if a girl is dancing on a stage, it’s okay to harass her. Such people point fingers at the woman’s character. While the truth is, no one can be more characterless than people who think like this.
There is a great film on this topic, Anaarkali of Aarah, in which Swara Bhaskar played the role of a local stage dancer. A politician assaults her, so she fights back. The film shows that every woman has a right to her own body.
“Pink” is another sensitive film which shows that a girl drinking alcohol does not mean that she can be misbehaved with. This is another excuse of the people with a r@pist mentality, that the girl was drunk. It’s true that drinking alcohol is harmful to health. But drinking alcohol cannot be a parameter to judge someone’s character. And it cannot be used as an excuse for s€xual assault. Consent is required here too. In fact, Section 63 of the BNS also states that if the woman’s consent was given while intoxicated, it can be grounds for r@pe charges too.
The sixth condition, the most common form of victim blaming, that though r@pe is wrong, but the girl was wearing short clothes. Once again, this is a vile, nonsensical argument. If r@pes occur due to short clothes, then why are young children r@ped? Why are older women r@ped? Why are mentally ill children r@ped? Why are women covered in saree or burkhas r@ped? Why are there r@pes in villages? In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, it is very rare to see girls in short clothes. So why is it that most cases of r@pe in our country are from there? Such a stupid argument, but still, I don’t know why many people in our society think like this. They hold on to this thinking that a girl is r@ped because of her short clothes.
“All the ladies, wear short dresses or are n@ked, to (get) r@ped. If you are the parents, please control the girls.”
A man made this statement in front of the Bombay High Court, that short clothes are the causes of r@pes. In Kozhikode Session Court, a judge said that in a photo, the complainant was wearing provocative clothes, so, prima facie, the accused will not be charged under sections for s€xual harassment. BJP leader C.C. Patil gave similar statements, who was later caught watching p0rn in the Assembly. BJP MLA Renukacharya and Rajkot BJP Mayor Raksha Boriya have given similar statements too.
An NGO, Akshara Centre surveyed 8 cities. It surveyed approximately 3,000 men and 3,000 women between the ages of 15-29. 54.8% of the men said that wearing revealing clothes leads to r@pe and s€xual harassment happens. But amazingly, 39.2% of females also believe this, that means women themselves believe these lies.
A popular perception is responsible for this way of thinking. People believe that r@pe is caused by s€xual Urge.
A few days ago the film Maharaja was released, it was a good film, but it showed this incorrect representation of r@pe. In many old Hindi films, r@pe is used as a shallow plot device where Prem Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, and Ranjeet have played the roles of r@pists. There too, r@pists have been portrayed in the same way. This old film, Jaani Dushman, crossed all limits. Akshay Kumar’s character asks the girl to forgive her molesters, saying that because she was so beautiful, even a dead man would be tempted.
But the truth is that s€xual urge has nothing to do with r@pe. So stop justifying it as the passion of youth. It’s not that those who don’t r@pe don’t have an urge. And r@pists have such an urge that it becomes uncontrollable. This is nonsense. Many times r@pists do have a consenting partner. They are married. In Paul Gebhard’s research, and many other surveys, this has been proved repeatedly.
The Three Types of Rapists and Their Root Causes
In reality, there are three reasons behind r@pe, and r@pists are divided into three categories.
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Power r@pists, who are victims of self-worth issues. Through this act, they want to feel in power.
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Anger r@pists. They are angry, they are abusive, and use vile language. And even if the victim doesn’t resist, they still become violent. The r@pists of this category often kill their victims.
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The Sadistic r@pists. Sadism means to get pleasure in other people’s physical and mental suffering, to enjoy themselves seeing others being oppressed or being tortured. Such r@pists often torture their victims over a long time.
But one question that will arise here is this evil desire to gain control, this anger, and sadism, where do these come from? Often in discussions, it is seen that to express their anger, people say that the r@pists must be mentally ill. It is wrong to compare so, because we are only stigmatising mental illness. Some r@pists may have a history of mental illness, but not all r@pists are mentally ill. They are simply monsters. You can call them demons, monsters, evil, or anything else.
But the next question you’ll ask is why do some people become like this? There must be some root causes behind this.
Look at this research. This research was done on 269 offenders and included r@pists. Many causes were identified:
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Child abuse they faced in their childhood.
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P0rn0graphy exposure before the age of 10.
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Physical abuse.
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Parental violence.
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Emotional abuse.
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Cruelty to animals.
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Exposure to violent movies or media in childhood.
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A relationship filled with anxiety or distance from parents.
It is important to study these causes so that we can prevent the creation of new r@pists in our society.
Now, due to such reasons, a person’s personality is shaped so that he has an evil desire, anger or sadism, and wants to dominate. But in America, when we hear of mass shootings, there too, anger is a common factor. In some people, such deep-seated anger turns into depression.
So the question arises, in the case of r@pists, their evil desire to dominate, their anger or their sadism, why is it expressed as r@pe? The answer to this is our r@pe Culture.
The Culture of Rape Normalization: Jokes, Songs, and Films
This phrase is used all over the world to denote those mass media, societal attitudes, and traditions that trivialise or normalise r@pe.
For example, in the film Kambakht Ishq, Kareena Kapoor says that he can’t stop her from speaking, so Akshay Kumar’s character forcibly kisses her. And this was supposed to be “comedy.”
The same so-called comedy is also seen in the film Kabir Singh, where the lead character molests a girl holding her at a knife point.
Many famous stand-up comedians like Louis CK, George Carlin, and Norm MacDonald have been seen making jokes about r@pe. And even in Indian stand-up comedy, there’s no end of vile language. Not only male, but even female stand-up comedians use such vulgarity, insulting mothers and sisters, which normalises s€xual violence.
Even in casual conversations with friends, many people use such insults which has now become common. Some people do so in anger, some only as a joke. But doing this, normalised r@pe culture. This is called r@pe Normalization, where you laugh at r@pe jokes, you don’t feel guilt watching r@pe videos or giving r@pe threats.
Psychologist Madhumita Pandey talked to 122 convicted r@pists and 65 convicted mu₹derers. She noticed a clear difference between mu₹derers and r@pists. Most mu₹derers regretted their crimes. They also realised how their actions destroyed other people’s lives. But on the other hand, most r@pists had no regrets about their actions. That’s why we see this in our society that many r@pe accused persons are repeat offenders. Because even after they commit their first crime, they do not see it as something wrong. And the question here is, why don’t they regret this?
Madhumita gave them two questionnaires, and their regressive views about women were clearly seen. But this is not the only such research. There have been many such researches before. Susan Brown Miller said this in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and R@pe, that r@pe is a conscious process of intimidation. Apart from Susan, researchers like Richard Johnson, Danielle Cusmano, Rebecca Whisnant, and many other researchers reached the same findings.
On top of this, we come to toxic masculinity and patriarchal culture. Where, instead of a free human, a woman is seen as an inferior subhuman. There are countless restrictions on women: don’t wear this, don’t go out, don’t laugh out loud. A woman is often seen as an object.
Ranbir Kapoor’s cringe-worthy ad, “Score More With *** Blast,” shows the same mentality, that girls are objects. Kareena Kapoor’s song, “I’m a Tandoori Chicken, gulp me down with alcohol. Impress me with only a missed call.” Badshah’s song, “I’m the one your mother must be warning you about.” They are basically glamorizing assaulters. Toxic masculinity is being stylised in movies and songs.
“They want a virgin wife, but like to visit Bangkok frequently. A guy surrounded by six girls is a stud. But a girl surrounded by six guys is a sl*t.”
And then these singers say that they have female family members at home, their music always comes from a place of responsibility and respect. Singer Honey Singh showed outrage about this Kolkata case. But what does he write in his songs? “I can’t get enough of brown girls, I’m a lion, I don’t graze grass.”
As long as women are being objectified like this, as long as this r@pe culture continues, this problem won’t be solved.
The Three-Pronged Approach to Addressing Rape Culture
And talking about solutions, there are three types of problems here.
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The conditions that can damage someone’s personality.
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The societal attitude due to which such people take out their urge to dominate, anger or sadism on a woman.
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The material conditions, mismanagement of which leads to such cases.
To end this problem from our society, we have to work on all three fronts. And everyone has to take part in this.
First, the root causes need to be removed so that twisted personalities can be prevented before they are formed. The government needs to speed up women empowerment across different departments. People need to be educated. Education needs to be our number one priority. We need to improve employment conditions. s€x education should be given in schools. Children should be taught about good touch and bad touch. All governments need to bring improvement in the legal processes.
Second, talking about other societal attitudes, this isn’t government’s responsibility only, all of us need to work on this. First of all, we need to eradicate these insults targeted at women. Friends, let’s make a commitment today that you will never use these words or phrases ever again, neither in your daily life, nor on social media. No matter how much you disagree with a person, or how much you hate a person, r@pe threats should not be made. You should not laugh at r@pe jokes.
After this, wherever you see a s€xist attitude in society, whether it is an ad, a film, a song, a YouTube video, a comment, a stand-up act, it should be called out. We need to raise our voices against it.
To make law and order strong, we need to fill the vacancies in the police. The police need to be more independent from the state government so that in any such case, politics can never interfere with justice.
I hope you learned something new from this video. Share this video with your friends and family so that we can spread awareness about this among all. So that all of us can work together on these solutions.
If you want more discussion on this issue, I have talked about it in detail in the video about the film Animal. I have also discussed sadism and violence in detail. You can click here to watch it.
Thank you very much!
