Air of mistrust
Five weeks ago, the heinous incident of rape and murder of a medical trainee at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata sent the entire city in a state of shock, from which it is still struggling to recover. The entire nation continues to stand in solidarity with the victims’ family in a bid to ensure justice. For a city renowned for its civility and cultured life, the RG Kar incident was a hurtful aberration, a blot on the face of Kolkata. The tragic loss in the Kolkata case cannot be recovered, and even complete justice will be a partial relief.
However, the manner in which Kolkata has bounced back, provides some promise. Doctors in the city and across West Bengal have taken the onus of ensuring justice upon themselves. For the last 35 days, they have been braving all odds to keep their peaceful protests alive. Except for the hooliganism—ostensibly at the hands of politically-motivated miscreants—witnessed on the night preceding August 15, the protesting doctors have maintained the decorum of the protests while staying firm on their demands. Reassuringly, this decorum has been duly reciprocated by the state government. Indeed, maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the state government. Without any doubt, it should be held accountable for the apparent lapses. Still, as far as the question of its integrity and efficiency in the entire case are concerned, no final dictum can be passed as long as the case is sub-judice. However, beyond all this, the manner in which the state government has responded is praiseworthy. At a time when protests are seen to be quelled across the country by means both fair and unfair, the level of tolerance, empathy, and sensitivity shown by the state government is truly remarkable. Parambrata Chatterjee, a notable celebrity from West Bengal, who has been active throughout the protest period, was on point in saying: “I cannot recall any similar gesture from a ruler in any other state in recent times. Very few administrations tolerate a movement to continue so freely for such an extended period. Generally, protests that raise their voice against authority are crushed much earlier through state power."
The image of Mamata Banerjee standing at the door of her residence, pleading doctors to come inside and initiate the meeting by shedding some of their untenable conditions, particularly regarding the videography of the meeting, has ostensibly nudged Chatterjee to acknowledge Mamata Banerjee’s humility. He also hailed the decorum maintained by the protestors. The moot question is: if both parties are willing to engage in talks and ensure justice for the victim’s family, then what is the friction point? It is, actually, the level of mistrust between the state government and the protestors, developed probably by the politically charged agenda of the BJP leaders and hostile reportage by a section of the media. Opposition parties in the state have linked the arrest of former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and Tala police station officer in-charge Abhijit Mondal as a reason behind the chief minister turning down the delayed meeting proposal by the protestors. They argue that the arrests validate their claims of evidence tampering. In the broader interest of the case, protestors should avoid jumping to any premature conclusion, and allow clear space to the investigating agencies and the judiciary to get to the depth of the matter.
The level of mistrust between the two parties should go down, and those fuelling the fire for political gains must exercise constraint, given the sensitivity of the issue. The wounds are still fresh, and it is time to be compassionate and firm in the pursuit of justice.
