Over the last couple of decades, after horrific cases of sexual assault and murder were prominently reported in the media, Indians have shown a remarkable willingness to come out on to the streets and undertake vocal and deep protests demanding justice for the victims. An aspect of these protests is that such demands are centred on the need for a rapid police investigation and punitive judicial intervention to punish the perpetrator as soon as possible, rather than for systemic reform, both institutional and socio-cultural, to prevent similar incidents in the future. This is unfortunate but understandable given the difficulties in carrying out such deep-seated socio-cultural reform, mainly due to the fact that it will need men to recognise that they are the major part of the problem as the perpetrators, which is practically impossible as it would involve challenging the foundational patriarchal superstructure on which Indian society rests.
As an ameliorative measure the political class has implemented limited legal reforms in response to mass protests in order to satisfy civil society demands with some form of “action” promising to restructure the status quo without actually doing so. The protests that erupted in the aftermath of the horrific incident on August 9 at RG Kar Hospital in West Bengal began with similar demands for justice for the victim, but gradually grew into a mobilisation against both patriarchy and the state’s existing medical system. The unprecedented.
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