Calcutta is fuming. The gruesome rape and murder of the trainee doctor last week has shaken the collective conscience of its people.
"The government is busy offering Rs 12 lakh to the poor girl's family," said a woman in her thirties waiting for a lift with her mother at the registry office in Government Place on Wednesday. Someone in the crowd waiting for the lift at the abysmally dirty building -- walls adorned with dust and cobwebs, so stained with spit they have changed colour -- had asked why the government could not keep an office clean.
No official record of the Mamata Banerjee government offering money to the RG Kar victim's family. But anger doesn't follow facts. And that anger is expected to spill into the streets tonight.
Tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, women across Calcutta and various districts will occupy the streets to protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The protests will take place at over 45 locations, beginning late Wednesday night and continuing until 5 a.m. on Independence Day.
The monsoon of Calcutta in 2024 is similar to the harsh winter of Delhi in 2012, when a 23-year old physiotherapy student was brutally gangraped in Delhi. The city erupted in protests, which led to new laws being framed in the country and became one of the reasons for the downfall of Sheila Dixit, otherwise considered a popular CM, with a stupendous track record.
Reclaim the night, poster preparations Sourced by The Telegraph Online
"I want to join the protests tonight," said a Bengali US citizen in town for a brief while. "But since I am a federal employee I can't. There should be anger. Rapes happen everywhere. But not like this, not a government hospital doctor on call. That RG Kar principal, if half of what is being reported is true, should be in jail. This is not Calcutta. This was not Calcutta."
The theme of the protest is “Reclaim the Night”.. The slogan for the event, "Swadhinotar Modhyoraatey, Nari Swadhinotar Jonyo" (At the midnight hour of Independence, for women’s liberation), has been spreading on social media, rallying support for the cause.
Mahasweta Samajdar, a 50-year-old magazine editor and an organiser of the protest at the Academy of Fine Arts, told The Telegraph Online, “A young doctor was brutally raped and murdered at her workplace, and the person who is entirely responsible for this, the principal of the reputed institute, casually put the blame on the victim by saying, ‘Why was she in the seminar room so late at night?’ How is this even relevant? Hence, we want to show him and others in society that even the night belongs to us. We are chanting, ‘Cholo meyra raate rastay dokol di’ (women, let's take streets at night). We are completely against victim-blaming, and we demand the safety of women at all hours.”
Barani Pal is a 46-year-old homemaker, who is organising the midnight protest from the Kestopur subway area. She trembled with rage when she spoke with The Telegraph Online, “The injustice against women has reached heights in our country where even doctors are not being spared. It’s high time, and we need to stop this. I couldn’t sit quietly after hearing this news and hence organised the protest. Today, I am even being accompanied by my mother-in-law, who is 80+ years old. Many young school and college girls, along with middle-aged people, have also come forward to support me.”
Sanjita, a theatre worker in her mid 40s is organising the protest from the Dunlop area. “I have been receiving calls from schoolgirls to elderly ladies who cannot walk, all wanting to take part in the protest. We all have just one demand: ‘Let us live.’ How many times will we die or be scared? Please, let us live,” she told The Telegraph Online.
Aditi Sen Chattopadhyay, a 50-year-old teacher, is organising the protest from Jadavpur 8B bus stand. She told The Telegraph Online, “On our part, we are completely keeping this protest apolitical. We do not want any game; we just want the women to be safe during the day and night, and if anybody wants to support us in this cause, they are welcome to join.”
The protests tonight are not restricted to Bengal. In cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru, ‘reclaim the night’ is taking place.
Sreenanda Shankar, speaking from Mumbai, shared her thoughts with The Telegraph Online: “At present, I am in Mumbai, and I am planning to attend a protest in Andheri West. Though this is not as big as the Kolkata one, I have shared it so that more people can come forward and support the cause. I am trying to get more people to go with me..my question is, how the hell do we stop this? After Nirbhaya, how could this happen? Until and unless the mentality changes, nothing changes”.
Tonight, at the stroke of the midnight hour, Calcutta’s women plan to awaken to life and freedom. Their war cry is- safety, justice, and equality. They do not want to go gentle into the night of Aug 14.
Here is a list of locations where protests are being planned:
Locations:
- Academy of Fine Arts
- College Street
- Kestopur Bus Stand
- Garia More
- Dunlop Mor
- Dunlop Khalsa Model School
- Dumdum Cantonment
- Dumdum Chataal
- Notun Bazar
- Jadavpur 8B Bus Stand
- Purbalok Park, Jadavpur
- Kestopur Subway
- Parnasree Post Office
- Newtown Biswa Bangla Gate
- Shapoorji Complex area
- B.T. Road Rathtala area
- Beliaghata C.I.T. Mor
- Rashbehari Crossing
- Laketown Jessore Road Crossing
- Shyambazar 5 point Mor
- Salt Lake Tank number 13
- Salt Lake Karunamoyee Housing Estate gate 2
- Nagerbazar Bus Stop
- Behala Sakher Bazaar
- Sintee Mor
- Haridebpur
- Baguihati
- Airport Gate Number 1
- Netajinagar Narkel Bagan, Tollygunge
