KOLKATA: Nearly a year after a young woman doctor was raped and murdered inside a locked seminar room at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, her grieving parents, whose wounds have only deepened with time, await justice. Her father said that their only hope is in the judiciary now.”We have lost all faith in the police and the CBI. For reasons best known to them, the CBI appears compromised, either politically or otherwise.They are just parroting what the Kolkata Police had said,” her father told PTI.On August 9 last year, the 26-year-old postgraduate trainee’s body was discovered inside the Chest Medicine Department’s seminar hall on the fourth floor of the hospital’s emergency building.The nature of her injuries, which indicated brutality, and the fact that it happened within a state-run hospital, sent shock waves across West Bengal and beyond.Widespread protests erupted across campuses, drawing students, doctors, and civil society to the streets. But a year later, the family says, justice remains elusive.”It wasn’t just a murder. It was a message that even the brightest women aren’t safe, not even inside a hospital,” the woman’s father said.A civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested and sentenced to life for rape and murder.But the victim’s family and several rights activists insist the case is far from closed.”From day one, we have said there was more than one person. She was a strong girl. There is no way only one man could have done this inside such a secure building. All the early cover-ups point to a bigger nexus,” her mother said.Her father alleged that attempts were made to destroy evidence.”There were three bodies at the crematorium that day. Yet our daughter’s body was cremated first. Why the hurry? Steps were taken to wipe out evidence,” he alleged.Two other arrests followed , Sandip Ghosh, the then principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and Abhijit Mondal, former officer-in-charge of Tala police station, on charges of misleading the probe.But Mondal was released on bail after the CBI failed to file a charge sheet within 90 days.”We were foolish to trust the CBI. They repeated what the Kolkata Police fed them. No new names, no new arrests, no answers,” the woman’s father said bitterly.”That alone tells you how seriously the CBI is taking this. They couldn’t even file the charge sheet on time.Now they claim they are probing a ‘larger conspiracy’. But we doubt they will ever file a supplementary charge sheet,” he said.The family also points to the Supreme Court’s observation, which raised questions about the handling of the case.”Those questions still remain unanswered. All they (CBI) say is, ‘investigation is ongoing’. That’s not enough,” he said.His wife added, “We are ordinary people, but not fools. Our daughter was raped and murdered in a room that’s supposed to be locked inside a government hospital.How does that happen without protection from powerful people?” “What we got wasn’t justice, it was a charade, it was a mockery of justice,” father said.What pains the parents more than the crime is the slow erosion of truth.”They say they are probing a larger conspiracy. But what conspiracy takes a whole year to even file a supplementary charge sheet?” the father asked.”They will drag this for ten, twenty years, until we are dead and gone. That’s their strategy. Exhaust the parents. Exhaust the people who are seeking justice,” he said.
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