Father of murdered Indian doctor says: “Now all I can do is make sure she gets justice” | Global Development

The father of the aspiring doctor who was murdered while resting at a Calcutta hospital spoke about his daughter's love for medicine and the way her family worked to support her calling.

“We are a poor family and we raised her under great hardship. She worked extremely hard to become a doctor. She did nothing but study, study, study,” he told the Guardian by telephone.

“All our dreams were shattered in one night. We sent her to work and the hospital gave us her body. For us, it's all over.”

“My daughter is not coming back. I will never hear her voice or her laughter again. All I can do now is focus on getting her justice,” he said.

The rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata on August 9 and the subsequent handling of the case by the authorities have led to protests and strikes by doctors across India.

Her father, who cannot be named due to an Indian law protecting the identity of the dead, said a career in medicine was all his only child had ever wanted. The 31-year-old had beaten all odds to qualify for one of the 107,000 or so places in India's medical schools, for which more than a million aspiring doctors apply each year.

She got a place to study at the College of Medicine & JNM Hospital in Kalyani in her home state of West Bengal. Her parents funded her dream with the modest income her father earned as a tailor.

As he recalled the day she confided in him that she wanted to be a doctor, his voice broke. “She said, 'Dad, it's a good thing to be a doctor and help others. What do you think?' I said, 'Okay, go for it. We'll help you.' And look what happened,” he said.

Her ambition drove him to expand his tailoring business, and the family's financial situation improved enough for him to borrow money to buy his daughter a car when she became concerned about her safety on the hour-long bus ride between the hospital and her home in a crowded suburb of Calcutta.

“First she told me to wait, she said we couldn’t handle the EMIs [monthly instalments] and she didn't want to overburden us. But the bus ride after a long shift was so exhausting that she agreed to the car,” said the father.

Although they remained in the same middle-class suburb where she grew up, where everyone respected her as a local girl who had made it, her parents had recently renovated the house. The brass plaque bore her name, not hers, and was proudly inscribed with “Dr.”

The dismay in the neighborhood has not faded since the news spread from house to house that “their” doctor’s big day was over.

The location of the attack – the hospital where the victim worked and which she and her family believed was safe – and her public service as a doctor who worked 36-hour shifts have only heightened public outrage over the crime.

The father said: “Like all parents, we were worried about her safety, but only during the journey. When she reached the hospital, we were relaxed. She was safe. It was like when we took her to school – as soon as she was through the gate, you felt she was safe,” he said.

In a post on X, Indian Medical Association chairman Dr RV Asokan expressed his dismay at the killing, saying, “We have failed her in life but not in death” – a reference to the protests, outcry and doctors' strikes that have rocked the country since her body was discovered.

Her colleagues and neighbors describe a dedicated young doctor who wanted to pay off her parents' debts and provide them with a comfortable life after the sacrifices they had made for their careers as doctors.

One of her former teachers, Arnab Biswas, said that unlike many young people who choose medicine because of its earning potential, she is “old-fashioned” and sees studying as a calling.

After witnessing Covid-19 patients gasping for air, she chose pulmonology as her medical specialty.

Her parents are devastated. “She was my only child. We worked hard to make her a doctor… I will never be happy again,” the mother said, according to a neighbor.

Neighbors who consulted her whenever she was ill and were proud of her accomplishments remember her feeding stray animals and working in the garden when she had time, longing to help the family in some way.

“The girl is gone now,” said a neighbor. “But we are supporting her parents so they don't feel alone.”