কাণ্ডারী নাহিক কমলার
দুখ লাঞ্ছিত ভারতবর্ষে
শঙ্কিত মোরা শবযাত্রী
কালসাগর-কম্পন-দর্শে।
These lines come from a Bengali Composer and Lyricist, from the era of India's fight for independence. The lines, as translated below, describe the country as 'কমলা', a name synonymously used by Bengalis to describe the Hindu Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi.
There is not a leader in sight, my Goddess,
In this land of India marred by shame and grief;
In the dark of these fuming tides, we cower in fear,
We are hapless wanderers, our bossoms bereaved.
This is not the kind of post that appears on my wall everyday. This is a letter of rage, of grief and of helplessness. I live in a country that refers to its nation as a mother. Where the majorly dominant religion worships women as warriors, their goddesses a metaphor of bravery and divine feminine. Yet in that country, religious leaders are found raping children. Then they're let go on a furlough to contest in state elections. This post is a call out post. This post is an attempt to draw eyes to the heinous crimes of man that the ruling state government tries to cover up.
On the 9th of August, a post graduate doctor in a leading medical college in Kolkata, West Bengal, India was brutally raped and murdered. Her fault? She found out about an illegal drug and sex racket being run by the son of an MLA, the principal and other unnamed authorities with ties to the state's Chief Minister, and threatened to expose it.
She was resting in a seminar room after a 36 hour shift when they descended on her. They twisted her pelvic structure in a 90° angle while another woman pressed down on her neck. Her eyes bled and her collarbones shattered, her skull a flat slate. Then they violated her body. 150gms of semen. That was procured from her vagina. The next morning when her colleagues found her corpse, the very same hospital hurriedly performed a post-mortem and the police on the scene declared it as suicide. The principal of the college called her psychotic, questioning her motives in being alone at the seminar room at night. Her parents were given her body 3 hours later and while they were still filing an FIR at the local station, her body was carried by the police to be cremated.
Then, the entire country descended into protests. Doctors boycotted their jobs. The police arrested a clear scapegoat. The principal of the crime scene resigned, stating that the victim was 'like his daughter'. Within four hours, he was made the head of the National Medical College, whose students barricaded the premises and refused him entry. The High Court put him on a sabbatical.
The women of the entire country descended on the streets last night, in an attempt to reclaim the dark. However, the ruling party sent thugs disguised as protesters to the hospital to destroy remaining evidence. Illiterate idiots they were, so they tried to set the emergency room with patients on fire and destroyed the CCTV server rooms. Thankfully they couldn't find the seminar hall of the crime. However, the seminar hall is already being broken into on grounds of "renovation" while the Central Bureu of Investigation who are responsible for probing into the case are useless.
Last night, a girl from a West Bengal suburban town was murdered because she dared to join the night protests organised by women. Currently, there are high chances that the case is going to be rigged upon trial and justice is once more going to be denied. I pen this post to request you, to take a look at the governments, both domestic and international, and perhaps question how democratic the society really is.
Dr. Moumita Debnath. 2nd Year Post-Grad Trainee. R G Kar Hospital. Kolkata. West Bengal. India.
Remember her name.
@uhhhhmanda @koreanthrillerenjoyer @gayautisticraccoon @gaylilsherlock ( I didn't know who to tag)
I've linked a petition below in case anybody is interested in supporting 🌸
