‘Men Continue to Violate Women Without a Shred of Fear or Guilt’

Debadrita Ghosh, 25, a final-year BDS student, says taking lady doctors off night duty only turns the wheel backwards; rot lies elsewhere and that needs to be fixed. Her views:

As a medical student, I’ve witnessed my fair share of struggles—exhausting hours, sleepless nights, the constant pressure to excel—but nothing shakes me more than the reality that haunts our society today. The rape and murder of a junior doctor from RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata is not just another incident. It is a gut-wrenching reminder of the sickness festering deep within our society—a sickness that runs far deeper than we acknowledge.

We talk about rape as if it’s some isolated act of perversion, but it isn’t. It’s embedded in the fabric of our everyday existence, where women are constantly objectified and reduced to mere bodies. It’s in the way men feel entitled to our time, space, and, most horrifyingly, our bodies.

This sense of entitlement is not born overnight; it’s nurtured from a young age. Boys grow up believing they can take what they want, without fear of repercussion, while girls are conditioned to lower their gaze and remain silent. This is rape culture. And it’s terrifyingly widespread.

Walking through the hospital corridors, I’m not just thinking about my patients or studies. I’m thinking about my safety. I’m thinking about the probability of being next. And that thought isn’t just confined to me—it lingers in the minds of every female doctor, nurse, or healthcare worker. We didn’t sign up for this. We signed up to heal, help, and make lives better, but somewhere along the way, our safety has become a luxury we can’t afford.

It’s absurd to think that doctors, people who dedicate their lives to saving others, are at the forefront of violence—physical, verbal, and now sexual. It started with doctors being beaten in emergency wards by irate relatives and patients who couldn’t be cured as if we held some magical power over life and death. And now, we are raped and murdered for simply existing in a world where our bodies are seen as public property.

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Recently, the state decided to amend policies to reduce the number of night shifts for women. I can understand the intent—to protect us from harm, given the constant threat we face during late hours—but how does that help us? Are we to be caged in the name of protection? After fighting for so long to be treated as equals, how can we now agree to take a step back? Should we limit our work, limit our potential, just to avoid violence?

No. We, women, have struggled far too much for equality to turn the wheel backward now. Limiting our presence during night duties only reinforces the idea that women are inherently vulnerable and need special treatment. Instead, what we need is a society that doesn’t make us feel like we are at risk, day or night.

What shakes me to the core is the impunity with which these crimes are committed. Men continue to violate women without a shred of fear because they know they will likely face no real consequences. Our judicial system is slow, and societal attitudes toward rape still hinge on victim blaming. Where is the fear of punishment? Where is the accountability?

This isn’t just a women’s issue. It’s a societal issue. The collective mindset needs to change. Laws alone won’t help unless they are enforced with the severity that matches the crime. But more than that, we need to reshape the way we think, the way we raise our children. We need to teach respect, empathy, and consent from the beginning. We need to dismantle the toxic masculinity that feeds this sense of entitlement. And until that happens, I will live every day with the dread of being the next headline.

Because it’s not just about being a doctor anymore. It’s about being a woman in a society that has failed to protect us. It’s about a rape culture that persists because we have allowed it to. And until we confront that truth, until we fight back against the rot that runs deep, I fear nothing will change.

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As told to Deepti Sharma