 "'Watch your daughters; woman had liquor at RG Kar protest': Bengal minister")
While Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government is facing public ire over the handling of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case, West Bengal MInister Swapan Debnath has sparked a row by claiming that parents should monitor their daughters’ activities after midnight as he referred to the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement.
The movement, carried out by women all over Bengal, is aimed at addressing the issue of women’s safety while reclaiming public spaces.
During a public event on Wednesday, Debnath alleged that during the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement, a protester was seen consuming alcohol with men. “What if something untoward would have happened to the woman?...your daughter had gone to join a protest. That's fine. But later, she was seen consuming liquor. We informed you (parents) to take her home…,” PTI quoted the minister as saying.
He said that the safety of women is a shared responsibility and asked the parents to “monitor” their daughters’ activities outside after midnight. Reacting to Debnath’s remarks, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the party does not endorse such statements.
It has been over a month since the protests first erupted after the rape-murder incident, which took place at the RG Kar Hospital premises in Kolkata on August 9. The body of the victim was found in one of the seminar halls of the hospital, the day after she was on night duty.
After more than a month of sit-ins, the protesting junior doctors announced on Friday that they would be ending their protests. The junior doctors said that they will partially resume their duties in state-run hospitals from Saturday.