Kolkata rape-murder: Can a new law address doctors' demand for safe workplaces?

The gruesome rape and murder of a junior doctor in India has shaken the nation and doctors are up in arms.

The woman, a 31-year-old medic, worked at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.

She had just finished a 36-hour shift at the hospital and was resting in the its seminar room when the assault took place.

The crime has shocked the country, particularly the medical community, and vast sections have gone on strike, demanding a specific law to deal with violence against doctors and ensure safe workplaces for them.

However, the central government has been reluctant to introduce a law for doctors because several states already have their own laws to deal with the issue.

In response to the outrage and strikes, India's top court has constituted a task force to look into ensuring safer workplaces for doctors.

But whether this will be considered sufficient justice remains to be seen.

The chorus from protesters and populist political forces — aside from the demand for a law to protect doctors — is that there should be the death penalty for the rapist, the resignation of the state government and a thorough inquiry into the incident.

Retributive justice and class bias

The overwhelming sense is of "prompt retribution" and the need for ensuring the ever-elusive issue of security of doctors.

What is lost in this discussion is the need to reflect on the bigger picture.

There is almost a torrent of ghastly sexual crimes against women in Indian society and it's unclear how much retribution has helped stem the tide.

It's tricky to define what is meant by security for doctors working in a system whose primary purpose is to serve the community, including large sections of that community who are insecure and vulnerable with regard to their lives and livelihoods.

There's also the question of why sexual crimes against some women seem to matter more than those committed against others.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau reveals that between 2018 and 2022 cases of violence against women in India increased by 12.9 percent.

Delhi had the highest rate of 144.4 cases per 100,000 women, compared to the national rate of 66.4 cases per 100,000 women.

If severe punishment served as a deterrent, then this trend ought to have improved after the Indian court sentenced to death the accused in the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young medical student in Delhi.

If anything, women’s groups and lawyers argue that the death penalty in rape cases is not a deterrent because it disproportionately affects marginalised communities and creates a false narrative that rape is a "rarest of rare" crime committed by strangers.

In another instance of instant retribution, the country saw the dramatic and vulgarly celebrated killing by police of four men accused of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad in 2019. This case did not even entail the rigours of a trial in the courts.

The convicts and the accused in both cases came from poor families.

The biases in serving punishment can also be seen clearly when the accused have political clout, and may be able to sway the system in their favour.

An example was the rape of a pregnant Muslim woman, Bilkis Bano, and the murder of her family members in 2002, during the Gujarat riots. The 11 accused Hindu men were granted repeated paroles and later their life sentences were commuted, although India’s top court restored the prison sentences in January 2024.

There were also paroles given to self-styled godmen Baba Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu despite convictions in rape and murder cases and the trials and travails of the family of the victim of 2017 Unnao rape case involving the Bharatiya Janata Party politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar before his conviction in 2019.

The withdrawal of the rape and abduction case against the former union minister of state in the Modi government, Swami Chinmayanand, by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in 2018, is another example.

Unfortunately, such biases run deep — the Supreme Court of India exempted itself from its own guidelines in matters of sexual harassment in institutions, when a former female employee of the court levelled charges of sexual harassment against the then Chief Justice of India.

But more and stricter laws to address these issues may not be the answer.

The Justice Verma committee — formed to recommend amendements to criminal law in the aftermath of the gang rape and murder of a young medical student in 2012 — observed in its report: "Failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment eroding the rule of law, and not the want of needed legislation.

"If there was a felt need for more laws, there are many recommendations of expert bodies and judicial decisions that remain unimplemented."

Invest more in public health

When examining the issue of security at work for doctors, bear in mind the deteriorating condition of publicly-funded health facilities due to lack of investment and an increasing emphasis on expansion of private sector healthcare in the country.

The government’s top think tank, NITI Aayog, has described public sector healthcare in the country as a "sinking ship".

Consequently, the well off have stopped seeking healthcare in the public sector, reducing it to being a poor service for poor people.

The changes in the class character of the clientele that an institution caters to, has a bearing on the behaviour of the health institutions and those who manage them.

The ethos of a neoliberal market society does not advocate compassion and a culture of "serving the people".

The folly is not that of individuals, but one that is systemic and systematic.

It forces doctors and other health personnel to perform under conditions where it has become increasingly difficult to meet the expectations of those who place their lives in their hands.

This cannot but diminish the respect that the medical profession once commanded.

There is nothing in the Indian medical education system that prepares doctors, nurses or other health workers to perceive and understand the larger social, economic and political reality which has so severely undermined the conditions of their patients and the people at large, including the health workers themselves.

However, nothing educates people more than their involvement in struggles for their collective good.

It’s an opportune moment for the medical profession to reflect on these issues, as they are involved in a struggle to better their working conditions.

Their struggles and reflections at this time may help evoke greater empathy towards the less privileged victims of sexual and other forms of violence, perpetuated by an exploitative patriarchal social and political order.

(Written by Vikas Bajpai, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.)