‘Women’s safety, crimes against them an issue in India’: Jaishankar speaks on Kolkata rape case in Geneva

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Friday, September 13, spoke about the Kolkata doctor's rape case while interacting with the Indian community in Geneva and acknowledged that women’s safety and crimes against them “is an issue in our country.”

Jaishankar said, “I don't think there can be a single person in the country who is not outraged by what happened. And you can see that on the street. The fact is, women's safety, crimes against women, is an issue in our country. It may be an issue in other people's countries as well.”

“I'm reminded in a way of something the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] said. He said it from the Red Fort. He said, all of us, we say things to our daughters when they go out late at night, we ask them things. Do you do that to your sons? Today the safety and security of women is a very big issue,” he added.

A post-graduate trainee at state-run RG Kar hospital in Kolkata was raped and murdered on August 9, prompting state-wide protests. Junior doctors have been on 'cease work' since then, demanding a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

As the impasse between the Bengal government and the junior doctors continues, resulting in the cancellation of three scheduled meetings, agitating medics in the state have written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting their intervention to end the RG Kar hospital stalemate.

"We humbly place the issues before your esteemed excellency, as the head of state, so that our unfortunate colleague who has been the victim of the most despicable crime shall receive justice, and so that we, the healthcare professionals under the West Bengal health department, may be able to discharge our duties to the public without fear and apprehension.

"Your intervention in these trying times will act as a beacon of light to us all, showing us the way ahead out of the darkness that surrounds us," they wrote.