A heinous crime, such as the one that was perpetrated against the postgraduate trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, can deal a severe blow to the public mind. The responsibility of instilling confidence in the besieged, collective mind lies with the administration. The Calcutta High Court’s directive, ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the reins of the probe into the rape and murder case from the police, is certainly reassuring: it is also a slap on the face of the administration. The court has had to prevent the former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital from taking charge of another medical institution till further directions. That the official was given the position in spite of charges of serious lapses in his last posting points to a complicity that must be investigated. The police — it has cut a sorry figure — have several questions to answer too. The Calcutta High Court, for instance, was dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation; its tardy pace continued despite the chief minister allotting a specific time frame to bring the investigation to an end. There are persistent whispers of the suppression of evidence that are crucial to the case: did the police follow up on all the leads?

The ineptitude of the administration is in sharp contrast to the spirited public protests that have broken out not only in Calcutta but also around the state and the country. Hearteningly, doctors and medical organisations are not the only ones involved: the ranks of the protesters have been swelled by people from all walks of life, making the protests truly public in character. In fact, on the eve of Independence Day, Calcutta and Bengal witnessed an unprecedented but inspiring nocturnal vigil by women who marched for the sake of justice for the victim. What is encouraging is the willingness to keep politicians of all hues at arm’s length from the protest. This augurs well for a nation in which many a public movement has been hijacked and blunted by cynical politics. The key, however, is to ensure that such protests beat the traps of sporadicity and partisanship. India’s record on women’s safety merits eternal public vigilance.