“Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.”

   — Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

It’s the 30th day today.

It has been exactly 30 days since a postgraduate trainee doctor in Kolkata was raped and murdered within the very walls she once treated patients. As the collective conscience of the state, the nation and even the global community resonates with fervent protests, demanding justice for the egregious violations that have shaken the very core of societal decency, a singular, piercing question persists: when will justice be realised? The urgency of this inquiry is not confined to the present atrocity but reverberates with a broader, more disquieting concern: what of the future of women’s safety in an increasingly unpredictable world?

In the early hours of 9 August, our late doctor, Tilottama (or Abhaya, as she may be known), went to rest in the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital after a gruelling 36-hour shift. The following morning, her battered body was discovered—brutally raped and murdered. Since then, significant developments have unfolded: the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched an investigation after the Calcutta High Court transferred the case to them on 13 August from the Kolkata Police, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the case and people from all communities have been protesting relentlessly, day and night.

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya said, “We would be well justified in accepting the plea raised by the writ petitioners, more particularly the parents of the victim, that there is every possibility that the evidence will be destroyed and the witnesses will be influenced.”

It is crucial to highlight that on 14 August, a mob breached the emergency department of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, engaging in widespread vandalism and destroying all items within the facility.

On Thursday, a letter emerged that allegedly connects the now-arrested Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the medical college, to renovation work on the same floor where the trainee doctor’s body was discovered. Dated 10 August 2024—one day after the rape-murder was revealed and prior to the Calcutta HC’s decision to transfer the investigation to the CBI—the letter is titled: “Repair/Renovation/Reconstruction of On-Duty Doctors’ Rooms, Including Separate Attached Toilets in All Departments of RGKMC&H on an Urgent Basis”. It concludes with the directive: “Please do the needful immediately”, and is addressed to the “Executive Engineer, PWD Civil, RGKMC&H”.

Earlier, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra found it “very disturbing” that the police took nearly 14 hours to convert its report of “unnatural death” to an FIR.

“Sandip Ghosh should have come straight to the college and filed an FIR. Who was he protecting?” CJI Chandrachud had asked. Justice Pardiwala had noted, “In my entire 30-year career as a lawyer and judge, I have never come across such a procedure followed by the police for registering an FIR in a rape and murder case.”

On 3 September, 22 hours after junior doctors began their march to Lalbazar on Monday afternoon, the Kolkata Police removed the three-tier barricades at BB Ganguly Street-Phears Lane Crossing on Tuesday. This allowed a delegation of 22 protestors to meet Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal and present their demands. Dr Aniket Mahato, one of the delegates, stated that they called for the Commissioner’s resignation due to his failure to prevent the vandalism at RG Kar Medical College Hospital on 14 August. The delegation discussed their demands, including concerns about police inaction and evidence tampering in the rape and murder case. They also presented a plastic spine model to typify the perceived ‘spinelessness’ of the police in addressing the issue.

Throughout the protests and the doctors’ sit-in, many local residents stepped forward with food, water and other essential supplies to support the doctors.

On Tuesday, 4 September, much of Kolkata plunged into darkness as a symbolic act of protest. At precisely 9 p.m., landmarks such as the Victoria Memorial and Raj Bhavan were shrouded in blackness. Spontaneous demonstrations also erupted across the state, with participants marching holding burning torches, candles and cellphone lights. The Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which organised the event under the banner “Let There Be Light, Let There Be Justice”, intended for it to coincide with the Supreme Court’s second hearing of the case. However, the hearing was postponed and is now scheduled for 9 September.

“How much more do we have to tolerate? This epidemic of rape all over India needs to be dealt with severely. Stricter laws need to be enforced along with exemplary punishments for these criminals,” commented Dr Shreya Chatterjee, who walked in a rally, demanding justice for Tilottama.

“As citizens, we must and will continue to raise our voices as long as such heinous crimes persist. Protests like these send a clear message that such injustices cannot endure indefinitely within our society. The momentum of the protest must not wane; whenever such incidents occur, people must unite and speak out,” added Rajesh Chakraborty, a participant at a rally in Durgapur.

The assurance of women’s safety in the distant, unforeseen future is not a matter of mere optimism or legal rhetoric; it is a fundamental concern that demands immediate and sustained action. The security of women, now and in the times to come, hinges on a radical restructuring of societal norms, legal mechanisms and institutional safeguards. To ignore this is to condemn future generations to the same systemic failures that have allowed these injustices to persist.

Apart from the nation, global protests have been scheduled for 8 September at 5 p.m. local time, demanding justice for Abhaya. Protests will be held in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The safety of women is not a mere policy agenda or political stratagem that is to be wielded for electoral gains or ideological leverage; it is a sacrosanct, inalienable entitlement enshrined in both domestic and international legal frameworks. Rooted in the universal principles of human dignity, equality and justice, the right to safety forms the bedrock of any society that upholds the inherent worth of every individual. The protection of women from violence, harassment and exploitation is not optional or conditional but an unequivocal obligation of states. To reduce this essential right to a tool for political manoeuvring is to violate the core tenets of justice, equity and human integrity.

As the world watches and waits, the imperative for justice must be swift, comprehensive and transformative, ensuring that women’s safety is not relegated to an afterthought but enshrined as a cornerstone of a just and equitable future.

The author is a lawyer, and a journalist on the staff of The Statesman. (Photographs by the author)