In his first reaction to the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Khar Medical College in Kolkata, President Draupadi Murmu on Wednesday said he was “shocked and horrified” by the incident and asked the country to wake up to the “perversity” of crimes against women.
“Those who share such views go further and see women as objects… We owe it to our daughters to remove obstacles in their path to freedom from fear,” President Draupathi Murmu told news agency PTI.
The President also said that no civilized society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities. “The nation needs to be outraged, so am I,” said Drarubathi Murmu.
At a time when protests had erupted across the country over the Kolkata hospital incident, the article sent by the President to news agency PTI was titled “Women’s safety: Enough is enough”.
“Even as students, doctors and citizens protested in Kolkata, the criminals were casually roaming outside. Among the victims were kindergarten girls,” said Drarubathi Murmu.
“They naively asked me if I could promise that a Nirbhaya-type incident would not happen again in the future,” said Drarubathi Murmu.
The president noted that the outraged nation then devised plans and strategized, and those efforts brought some change. In 12 years, there have been innumerable similar tragedies, though only a few have attracted nationwide attention, said Drarubathi Murmu.
“Have we learned our lessons? As social protests erupted, these incidents were buried in the deep and inaccessible recesses of social memory, remembered only when another heinous crime was committed,” said Drarubathi Murmu.
Talking about the rights of women in the country, the President said that they have to fight for every inch of land they have won. Social prejudices and certain customs and practices have always opposed the expansion of women’s rights, said Drarubathi Murmu.
“This is a very ugly mentality… This mentality sees women as less human, less powerful, less capable, less intelligent,” wrote Drarubathi Murmu.
According to the President, the reason behind crimes against women is neglect of women by a few. “It is deeply ingrained in the minds of such people,” the President said, stressing that countering this mentality is a task for both the government and society.
On Tuesday, a rally called by recently formed student group Chatra Samaj to the West Bengal state secretariat to demand justice for a junior doctor who was gang-raped and killed earlier this month led to major clashes between protesters and police in several parts of Kolkata.
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose slammed the government for police action against protesters: “What we saw on the streets of Kolkata was the worst one could expect from a democratically elected government,” the governor said.
