In the wake of the horrific gang rape of a 23-year-old MBBS student from Odisha at a private medical college in Durgapur on October 10, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s response has once again laid bare a troubling pattern of deflection and denial.

Speaking to reporters at Kolkata airport on October 12, she questioned how the victim could have “come out at 12:30 at night" from her hostel, urging female boarders, especially those from outside the state to “follow hostel rules and not venture out late at night". She added that “girls should not be allowed to go outside at night" and must “protect themselves", while shifting some blame to the institution for inadequate campus security. These words, delivered in the shadow of unspeakable trauma, echo a societal reflex that prioritises restricting women’s mobility over confronting the predators who prey on them.

But let’s set the record straight: the incident did not unfold at midnight. According to the police complaint filed by the victim’s father and corroborated by timelines from the investigation, the student left the campus around 8.30pm with a male friend for dinner, returning by 9.29pm before being assaulted near the college premises.

Banerjee’s factual inaccuracy underscores a deeper failure—not just of empathy, but of accountability. As the state’s chief minister and home minister, she wields the authority to ensure women’s safety around the clock, yet her rhetoric reinforces the very chains that bind half the population. Women can—and must—go out at any time. The onus is not on them to shrink their lives to fit a dangerous world, but on society to teach boys restraint and on the state to enforce it. Our Constitution, in Articles 14, 15, and 21, guarantees equality, non-discrimination, and the right to life with dignity for all citizens—without qualifiers for gender or hour. There is no clause exempting the police from protecting women after dark; to suggest otherwise is to abdicate the state’s fundamental duty.

This is not mere rhetoric; it’s a betrayal of the compassionate leadership Bengal deserves. The victim, a bright young doctor-in-training far from home Odisha, trusted the system enough to pursue her dreams in Durgapur. Instead, she........

© News18