Kolkata murder should not have happened

The gruesome rape and murder of the young doctor in Kolkata has deeply affected us all. We as a nation have repeatedly failed to protect our daughters, sisters and now the young doctor. There have been calls to overhaul the judicial system and institute quick and stringent punishment to the perpetrators of such crime. Parents have been urged to focus on the right upbringing of sons.

I would like to highlight one aspect that perhaps differentiates the situation here in the West (I currently live in Switzerland) and India. And that is public safety.

Psychopaths and ‘sick’ people abound here as well, the so called developed world. Economic and infrastructure development has not meant that all minds are equally sane.

Multiple stabbing incidents are reported from UK, including the recent killings of three young girls at a play school, that led to countrywide riots and protests.

The US is struggling to control mass shootings at schools, malls and public places. A young boy tried to shoot Presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The West, however, is far ahead in creating public and private spaces that are equipped with technology and other measures, that act as deterrents to execution of crimes.

Would the young doctor in Kolkata met with the same fate had there been cctv cameras; or entry into hospital premises was controlled by computerised IDs; or there was a proper resting area for doctors on night duty? Think about it.

Over the recent past three young people in India drowned in a basement at a coaching center in Delhi; a young boy fell and died when he stepped on a badly constucted manhole; a young girl died when an iron gate fell on her; two young engineers were mowed down by an overspeeding Porche driven by a drunk minor in Pune.

Such incidents happen with sickening regularity and are soon forgotten when the media moves on to focus on the next tragedy.

The solutions, I believe, need to be found by pinning responsibility. The system is focused on finding poor scapegoats, victim shame women and not act against those who are really responsible: the instututions, police, municipality, judiciary, the rich and in the unfortunate Kolkata murder, the hospital management that failed to provide the security needed for a young female doctor to go about her profession.

Think about it.