West Bengal, once celebrated as a beacon of cultural pride and intellectual vibrancy, is unravelling under a shadow of lawlessness that threatens its very soul. The state, governed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is grappling with a deteriorating law and order situation where women’s safety has become a casualty of political machinations and institutional decay at a time when, in less than one year, the 2026 assembly election will take place. A string of high-profile cases—brutal crimes against women in settings as varied as hospitals, colleges, and public spaces—has exposed a chilling reality: Bengal is no longer a haven for its women.

The state’s police, tethered tightly to political interests, appear incapable of independent action, while opposition parties struggle to channel public outrage into meaningful resistance. Bengal’s obsession with vote-bank politics has blinded it to the ticking time bomb of systemic failure, and unless its people shed their cultural ego, the state risks descending into chaos. The recent spate of crimes against women paints a grim picture.

The horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a prominent Kolkata medical college sent shockwaves through the state, highlighting not just the vulnerability of women but also allegations of institutional cover-ups linked to TMC-affiliated figures. Similarly, the gang-rape of a student at a South Kolkata law college, allegedly within the college’s guardroom, exposed negligence and complicity at the highest levels of institutional oversight. Reports of sexual assault at the........

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