An Open Letter to CJI on RG Kar Rape and Murder

September 15, 2024

To

The Chief Justice of India

Justice DY Chandrachud

Supreme Court, India

Subject: Citizen Petition in the RG Kar Rape and Murder Case Asking for Effective Legal Directives Addressing Sexual Violence and Police Repression

This letter has been signed by over 1000 individuals from different walks of life and over 55 organisations.

Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, as feminist, student, mass organizations and individual citizens from across the country,  along  with  Reclaim  the  Night,  Reclaim  the  Rights (RTNRTR) Movement in West Bengal are dismayed that even after ‘suo moto’ cognizance of the RG Kar rape and murder by the Supreme Court (SC), the case is at a standstill. The SC has failed to address the grievance, anger and rage of protesting people. A month has gone by but the CBI is yet to reveal any findings of the gruesome rape and murder. In the last hearing, the SC shifted its focus only to the protesting doctors as guilty (endorsed by Mr. Kapil Sibal) of the breakdown of the West Bengal health system. While citizens and the entire medical community, including senior doctors, are in support of the protesting doctors, who are demanding an accessible public health system, free of corruption rackets and threat culture, why is the CJI losing focus on the specific case under investigation? We want the SC to deliberate on the delayed investigations and purported protection of perpetrators, followed by attacks on citizen protests.

We expect that the CJI knows that the brutal rape and murder of the trainee doctor at RG Kar hospital is not an isolated incident but connected to different incidents of sexual violence and gender discrimination at workplace and in the public that have been rapidly increasing throughout the country. We raise our concerns regarding the National Task Force (NTF) instituted by SC in RG Kar to review the institutional safety standards – restroom, toilets, hostels, transport, sanitation etc. and address the vulnerability of medical professionals within healthcare institutions.

a) Institutional safety and infrastructural lack is not only a concern in healthcare institutions but all other educational, public and private institutions need this review and scrutiny.

b) The appointed committee should have the experience and expertise to discern and address the corruption rackets and systemic failures within medical institutions. The high-profile composition of this proposed committee does not guarantee that political, infrastructural and ethical lapses in medical institutions will be investigated with the rigor and skills required.

c) SC’s decision of instituting CISF in RG Kar only amplifies fear, intimidation and surveillance and does not help in speedy investigation.

The perpetrators in this case have actively tried to cover up the crime, destroyed evidence and spread fear amidst students. This chain of perpetrators from college administration, state administration to the rapists and murderers who are deemed guilty have been receiving full protection of the ruling party. While the CBI investigation has only till now led to the arrest of Sandip Ghosh and some of his accomplices, it is the pressure of the ongoing citizen protests that first, Sandip Ghosh was suspended and now 3 doctors of SSKM and North Bengal University are suspended. In most cases, the ruling parties and their political nexus are behind such crimes. Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, increasing caste atrocities, poverty and unemployment, syndicate rackets have become the political infrastructure for propelling gender-sexual violence.

Even after 13 years, the PoSH Act implementation has been very poor in workplaces. Rules and procedures of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act post the Verma Committee have not led to the setting up of ICCs within institutions and LCCs at district level. There is no data on Govt. websites about ICC and LCC. Even if they are set up in some places, they are either dysfunctional or headed by higher officials of the administration. It is appalling that the everyday occurrence of gender-sexual violence on working class, Muslims, oppressed caste womxn, queer and trans* people in the unorganised sector remain unaddressed. The inclusion and involvement of feminist organisations, collectives and platforms in law and policy making is much required to make the PoSH Act effective in all areas of work.

In the midst of raging protests across the country, the culture of impunity is gaining ground. Recently, a nurse was gangraped on her way from work in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. Two workers were arrested after several days have passed. Just like in Manipur, in Bengal too, a woman was paraded naked in Nandigram by BJP party workers last month, while BJP is acting as the crusader of gender rights, infiltrating and co-opting every citizen protest. A party responsible for cheering and raising the national flag for rapists of Unnao and Kathua; doing forceful cremation, destruction of evidence and shielding dominant caste perpetrators in Hathras; garlanding rapists of Bilkis Bano; and protecting Brij Bhushan and suppressing voices of Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Mallik and all protesting wrestlers is now trying desperately to hijack feminist movements and peoples’ protests. We are determined to expose the patriarchal ploys, caste and communal atrocities underlying the electoral politics of the ruling national party.

We oppose the Aparajita Bill that has been produced by the TMC without any consultation with citizens. As feminists, we are opposed to capital punishment as it is a populist measure to quell public outrage and does not ensure the due process for womxn seeking justice. We condemn the carrot and stick policy of the ruling party, trying to appease citizens with measures such as ‘Rattirer saathi’ apps, limiting working hours of women to 12 hours, and identifying safe zones with CCTV cameras. To live and breathe freely in society, we want freedom and dignity, not measures that control / surveil us in the name of protection.

At this juncture, all political parties are shamelessly scheming how to capture or retain political power. We are enraged that politicians, religious organisations and proponents of hate politics are allowed to make violent speeches with impunity. While the judiciary fails to curtail this violence, social activists demanding justice are denied bail and detained in prison for days without trial. The culture of violence has spread so wide and deep that a woman gets sexually assaulted in broad daylight in a public street in Ujjain. This culture of impunity is alarming for us – womxn, queer and trans* people – who have always struggled for a society free of sexual violence. Unless the judiciary wakes up from its slumber, sexual violence and hate politics will continue to reign and target the most vulnerable sections in society. 

The honourable SC had ordered for no restrictions on peaceful protest on the very first day. We humbly ask what mechanisms the honourable SC may adopt if protesters, including our friends and comrades, are threatened and imposed with false cases by police and local goons of political parties? It is ironic that instances of sexual violence and molestation are also being experienced by womxn, queer and trans* people, who are independently protesting throughout West Bengal since 14th August, 2024. There are daily reports from various districts of Bengal – where local goons of TMC and BJP attack protesters and disrupt protest sites. Police over-action, attack on peaceful assembly, illegal arrest and filing false cases on protesters is a recent experience in Barasat, North 24 Parganas. We firmly believe that the Right to Dissent is integral to democracy.

In this context, as the highest authority of the apex court of the country, we place before you the following demands:

1. Identification, arrest and exemplary punishment of the rapists and murderers and accomplice of 9th August. Doctors, students, and health professionals are not safe as long as the rapists are roaming free and criminal rackets continue unchecked in medical institutions.

2. Immediate arrest of those directly and indirectly linked to evidence destruction.

3. The Supreme Court must change the composition of the NTF and include doctors, students, activists and lawyers from the regional fraternity for an effective and informed fact finding regarding the rape, murder of the trainee doctor and institutional lapses, corruption rackets in the health sector. The NTF needs to consult the protesting doctors, students and women, feminist organizations, and platforms who have been working on this issue and are significant stakeholders in this movement.

4. Directive to institute a Special Fast Track Court, along with necessary infrastructure to expedite the trial processes, once the case is transferred to the Sessions Court in Bengal.

5. Directives to penalise errant police officials, local party workers and anyone who launch physical assault on peaceful protesters and disrupt citizen assemblies in various parts of Bengal.

6. Constitute a Review Committee not only in medical institutions but also in each and every institution, locality in the country to do gender audit to safeguard the overall environment of work. Review Committees in each educational institution can comprise students, teachers and activists, lawyers from feminist, queer movements and organisations. Such Review Committees need to be constituted separately in unorganised sector work.

7. Directive penalising institutions and administrative heads (DM/ Collector) failing to institute ICCs, LCCs as per the provisions of the PoSH Act.

8. Ensure the inclusion of queer and trans* people in the PoSH Act and non- discriminatory and equal measures in case of physical, sexual violence on queer and trans* persons in the PoSH Act.

9. Revise the newly passed Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) where registering FIR on sexual assault takes time and one cannot lodge complaint against public servants.

From,

Organisations