On August 8th,  2024, 31 yr old medical college trainee Moumitha Debnath in West Bengal was brutally raped and murdered. Moumitha dedicated her life to saving others, but unfortunately, no one was there to save her; after working a tiresome 31-hour shift at R.G Kar Medical College in Kolkata, India, she went on to dinner with her colleagues, later on, the next day, she would be found dead in the seminar room in the most horrific of conditions. 

On the morning of August 9th, 2024, Dr. Debnath was discovered in a semi-naked condition in the seminar room. Blood dripped out of her eyes, mouth, and her genitals. The college board ruled out her death as a suicide to her family. Enraged Moumithas family, who knew she would never resort to such a solution no matter how hard things got, caused a “scene” after police investigations began; terrifying truths came out individually. 

After initial investigations began, the autopsy revealed she was raped and then strangled to death, and her face had been clawed at by whoever had committed this heinous crime. The report added details on severe injuries to the genital tract, where more than 151 grams of semen was found. Suspiciously, however, as soon as the authorities got involved and so did the media, the principal closed the school for “renovations.” After more digging, it was found that the said principal was not involved in this case, but he was engaged in illegal corpse trafficking and organ trafficking. After the instances gained popularity, international outrage began.

Protests began flooding the streets of Kolkata. People, regardless of age or gender, were furious. Violent protests had started, so the CBI and the national government of India got involved. A bill that the people had long since demanded was passed. It stated that in the case of rape if proven guilty, said rapist would be sentenced to life without parole, and if the victim had any case of permanent damage, then the perpetrator would be given a death sentence. 

The CBI arrested Sanjay Roy, a Kolkata police civic volunteer, who has been reported before for assaulting his pregnant wife and harassing a female doctor over the phone just three months before this incident. No actions were taken against him, even when he was proven guilty due to his having connections with the board. CBI made the arrest based on footage of Sanjay entering the building, where he was given access to his job and, once again, connections. Bluetooth headphones connected to his phone were found ripped off at the crime scene.

The media and her people have heavily criticized Mamata Banerjee, lead state official of West Bengal, for how “lazily’’ this case was handled. She wasn’t willing to act, so national authorities had to get involved. Not to mention, the victim’s family has just told the public that Kolkata police tried to bribe them to stay quiet and silent in the aftermath of this incident. It seems as though the more information that gets out about this case, the worse it gets. Protests are still ongoing, but can we blame them?

Although the arrest has been made and bills have been passed, nothing will bring poor Dr. Debnath or hundreds of thousands of women just like her whose pain and voices have been silenced in the voice of money and power back.