India shocked by another murder of a woman, a hospital intern on night shift

Thousands of protesters have been rioting for several days against the murder of a medical intern at her workplace a week ago. The autopsy revealed traces of rape. A man has been arrested but the family suspects gang rape.

In India, a 31-year-old woman was raped and murdered, Friday August 9, at her workplace, a hospital in Calcutta. She was found with injuries all over her body in a meeting room, where she was probably trying to take a break. She had been on duty for 36 hours. The autopsy also revealed that she had been raped.

But the way this case was handled is also revealing of the ills of Indian society. Moreover, demonstrations took place early this morning in India, in Calcutta and elsewhere, to cry out the feeling of abandonment and indifference too often felt in the face of violence against women. Thousands of people, especially women, held up placards reading “Hang the rapist”, “Save the women”, “We want justice” or “Reclaim the night”. The hospital doctors also participated. And on Thursday morning, August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for tougher penalties for attackers of women and faster investigations.

Indeed, many questions have surrounded the investigation since the murder. The first concerns the young woman’s body, which was found clearly damaged. “The police, true to character, as many people in Calcutta would agreewrites the Telegraph India, deemed it appropriate to open a murder investigation only after the parents complained.” Until then, the suicide theory was circulating!

A man was arrested, a volunteer who worked in the hospital. But for the family, and the autopsy also ultimately goes in this direction, there was a gang rape. So who else was there? Did the hospital management, the police, seek to protect men in particular? Distrust and suspicion reign in the country, and Commissioner Goyal, of the local police, accuses the press of leading a “malicious campaign” : “I tell you from the bottom of my heart, we did not seek to protect anyonehe said, We are a responsible force, we cannot destroy evidence like that.”

We never said there was only one guilty party, we said we are waiting for the scientific evidence. We did what was right.”

Commissioner Goyal of the local police before being removed from the investigation

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Because of the scandal, the investigation was taken away from him in favor of the federal police. This is not the first time that the police in India have been accused of corruption, of hiding evidence in these types of cases. And women regularly testify to say that when they go to a police station to file a rape complaint, they are discouraged by the police.