‘This is unsettling for us’: doctor’s rape and murder spawns new fear among India’s female medics

On Monday, Indians celebrated the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, marking the bond between brother and sister. Sisters tie a “rakhi”, or bracelet, around the wrists of their brothers as a symbol of love for which the brothers in turn pledge to protect them from harm.

This year, the rakhi tradition angered Dr Sumita Banerjee, a third-year student at Lady Hardinge Medical College in the Indian capital, Delhi, because of the timing – India is still shaken by the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor on 9 August at a hospital in Kolkata.

“What hypocrisy,” said Banerjee. “These men pledge to protect their sisters but rape women. Can we stop these brother-sister rituals and just strive for a day when Indian men respect not only their sisters but all women.”

The discovery of the doctor’s brutalised body in a seminar room at RG Kar hospital, where she had gone to take a break, has outraged Indians. Doctors across the country have held protests and refused to see non-emergency patients since the crime.

For female doctors, the crime has spawned a new fear. Their brains were already wired to make careful decisions about what to wear depending on where they were going and to avoid being out late alone. But at work, many felt they could let their guard down.

“I’d stride into hospital at 2am or 3am and think nothing of it. My white coat was like a circle of protection around me. Now that sense of safety has gone,” said Dr Rooma Sinha, a gynaecologist at Apollo hospital in Hyderabad.

Her colleague at the Apollo branch in Bangalore, Dr Preeti Shetty, also a gynaecologist, said female doctors were deeply disturbed by the crime.

“We have all done night shifts, responded to calls at every hour of the day, and gone off for deliveries at night as totally routine things. Totally routine for us as doctors. To think that such a hideous thing could happen during our normal routine is very unsettling for all of us,” said Shetty.

Apollo is a private hospital where extensive security measures are in place. Shetty has a duty doctor’s room next to the labour ward where she can take a break and where only authorised staff can enter. Every floor has security guards and CCTV cameras are all over. For night shifts, she uses a hospital car.

The Kolkata hospital is a government facility with far fewer safety measures. The man who has been arrested, Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the police who helped patients with admissions, was able to access any part of the hospital.

In response to the striking doctors, the government on Tuesday announced a 25% increase in security personnel at all government hospitals, along with marshals to handle extreme situations. Separately, India’s supreme court ordered the creation of a national taskforce of doctors to make recommendations on safety at their workplace.

Shetty worries about medical students who will be entering hospitals as resident doctors. “They have worked so hard to pass competitive exams. Their parents have made sacrifices to pay for their education. And now parents have a new fear to worry about,” she said.

More female doctors than ever are entering the workplace. In fact, so many girls are choosing medicine that they form half of the cohort in most medical colleges and in some the figure is 60%.

A senior resident at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, who did not want to be named, said she felt nervous about going back to night shifts once the strike was over. Taking part in a protest on Sunday with a placard saying, “No safety, no duty”, she looked around her and said: “It’s weird but being out in the open on the street actually feels safer than a seminar room in a hospital after what happened to her.”

Dr Subashini Venkatesh, a general physician with Apollo in Chennai, has already started behaving differently with her staff. “I have an intern working with me and I’m asking: ‘Where have you parked your car, is it well-lit and let me know when you have reached your room.’ This is totally new,” she said.

Sinha said she appreciated the public outrage over a doctor being murdered inside a hospital but said no distinctions should be made.

“Yes, I know doctors serve the public but so do other women – women working nights in call centres or as software engineers. Women should feel safe in all workplaces,” she said.

The ongoing protests have given the parents of the dead doctor some solace. “My daughter is gone but millions of sons and daughters are now with me. This has given me strength,” the father told reporters.

The investigation is being handled by India’s federal crimes agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which took over from the Kolkata police after the parents expressed doubts about its objectivity.