Why Doesn’t India Believe its Women?
The outrage over R.G. Kar is about much more than one woman and one case.
After news about the rape and murder of a resident doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital broke on August 9, at first, there was shock. Gruesome details about the condition of the victim’s body are still perturbing people. Then, there was anger due to the shabby handling of the case: the swift reemployment of the principal, slow police responses, mob attacks on the crime scene, the tragedy’s inappropriate exploitation for political gain, and suppression of dissent in West Bengal.
For India’s women, the initial shock has led to anger for a different reason. They are realizing they saw this coming. They are realizing that they deserved to have been believed, and believed themselves, a long time ago.