It took 25 minutes and 162 days to conclude what had started as one of the most discussed cases of Bengal in recent times. And another day and a few more hours for the court to pronounce its sentence.
The accused Kolkata Police civic volunteer who was arrested after the body of a 31-year-old female post-graduate medic was found in the seminar hall of the Pulmonology Department of RG Kar Medical College on August 9 last year, was found guilty. There were no prizes for guessing the quantum, but there will definitely be a silent prize for the ruling party of Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, after the verdict. That of vindication of the government led by its supremo, Mamata Banerjee.
Since August 9 last year, there have been several incidents related to the heinous crime. Some happened inside the courtrooms of the Supreme Court, the Calcutta High Court and the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court. Many others happened on the streets and at the premises of hospitals and medical colleges across Bengal. Some twists and turns also happened in people's perceptions.
From allegations of gangrape, and police over-activeness in disposing off the victim's body to claims about close ties between TMC brass and those running the show in RG Kar hospital, including the state's health department - all put Mamata and her party in a spot. These were coupled with massive 'reclaim the night' protests across Bengal, which resonated in several corners of India and also overseas. Matters went to such an extent that Mamata had to oversee her signature Durga Puja immersion carnival on the Red Road with a parallel massive protest rally round the corner at Esplanade, demanding justice for the dead medic.
But, Mamata Banerjee is a seasoned politician and a wily player in her game. The only thing she needed was time. It was the Kolkata Police that had picked up the civic volunteer as the prime suspect, within a day of finding the female medic's body. On August 13, the court had handed over the probe to the CBI. From that day till November 4 last year when charges were framed in the case, the central agency could not find any other accomplice in the crime committed inside a state-run hospital in the heart of Kolkata. Eventually, when the verdict was delivered and the quantum of punishment was pronounced, there was only one person standing in the witness box. The same civic volunteer whom the police had picked up one day after the body was found. This is where Mamata has silently scored and her Trinamool Congress has turned around.
It is true that the massive protests after the RG Kar incident, predominantly by women, had put Mamata on the back foot. Even the Sandeshkhali incident did not waver her confidence as the RG Kar case did. The Didi of Bengal knew she cannot afford any dilution of her women's support base, which has stood by her since she launched her direct cash benefit scheme for women, the political game changer, Laxmir Bhandar. The unsettled feeling of Mamata Banerjee was visible when she yielded to several demands of the protesting junior doctors including the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and two senior state health department officials in one go. Rarely does she concede this much. But, Mamata was buying time. She knew her litmus test lay round the corner.
In November last year, six Assembly seats of Bengal, two each in the north, west and southern regions of the state, went to the polls. The RG Kar rape and murder-related protests were generally apolitical in nature, but significant Left Front presence could be seen on many occasions minus party flags.
In comparison, BJP, the main opposition party of the state, barely cut teeth among the protestors. In fact, during a prolonged sit-in demonstration outside Swasthya Bhavan, the state's health headquarters in Salt Lake, protesting junior doctors refused entry to BJP leaders. Incidentally, the state BJP headquarters is just next door and though its gates were open to the agitators for the use of basic facilities, yet they had to remain outcasts in the protest. Mamata knew this and was observing.
She knew her contest in the two Assembly seats of north Bengal was comparatively tougher than the other four. But, when the results were declared, Trinamool Congress swept the polls with the party registering its first ever win from the Madarihat Assembly seat in the north. Since TMC's formation, the party had never won this seat. It was always with the Left Front constituent RSP and after the political turnstile of Bengal swung in Trinamool's favour in 2011, it voted for the BJP. The results proved that the RG Kar protests had no impact in the rural and semi-urban swathes of Bengal. Trinamool Congress remained invincible.
So, when the CBI mentioned Kolkata Police civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy as the prime and only suspect behind the rape and murder of the female medic in RG Kar hospital in its chargesheet, Mamata knew she had won the political slugfest. Her administration's stance and the initial investigation of her police were vindicated.
The central agency could not prove anything against former RG Kar MCH principal Sandip Ghosh and Tallah Police Station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondal in connection with the heinous crime. Though both were taken into custody, Mondal is out on bail and Ghosh is in jail not for his involvement in rape and murder case, but for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities surrounding the RG Kar hospital. Cries about a section of police officers and others close to Ghosh had tampered with evidence soon after the medic's body was discovered fell flat as there was no conclusive evidence that stood during the course of the trial in the court.
Mamata has taken to social media regarding a recent court order awarding capital punishment in connection with a girl’s rape and murder in Bardhaman saying, "A rapist has no place in our world. All of us together will make it a safer place for our children through stringent law, social reforms, effective and unforgiving administration. No such crime will go unpunished."
Once she heard that Sanjoy Roy has been sentenced to imprisonment for life, she stepped on the gas saying, "If we had the case with us, we would have ensured capital punishment. I don't know how the case was contested and what arguments were made. Everything has been done by the CBI. The case was deliberately taken away from us. We wanted the highest punishment for ghouls."
A vindicated Mamata Banerjee has emerged from a sticky RG Kar wicket, stronger. The assembly election in Bengal is due next year.
