Disenfranchising And Regressive: Threats Stalk Women In The Workplace From Kolkata To Lahore And Beyond
Written By Faryal Shahzad
Following close on the heels of the most horrifying?rape and murder?of 31-year-old female doctor at the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, India, during the wee hours of 9 August, was the?rape attempt?on a minor girl at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on 19 August in Lahore. The barbarous Kolkata rape and murder is one of the most gruesome cases of femicide in recent years, and has rattled people on both sides of the border.
In the 19 August attempt in Lahore, had the mother of the five-year-old at the Ganga Ram Hospital not heard her cries and reached her in time, the already nauseating numbers of child sexual assault in the country would have gone up by one.?
Yes, this is as crassly as incidents of rape – and attempted rape – involving women and minors are viewed by those investigating them and those at the helm of affairs. As our economic troubles mount and new mishaps make us forget the old ones, sensitivity and empathy towards repulsive and recurring incidents of rape witness a dip, often even failing to raise an alarm unless they go viral on social media, except among those directly affected by the outcome and impending threat of such heinous assaults.