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The rape and murder of a 31-year-old female intern doctor has sparked nationwide protests in India.

The protests came as a panel of Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud was hearing a case related to the incident. In addition, the Supreme Court of India has set up a hospital safety task force to propose measures to ensure the safety of medical workers. On August 20, the Governor of West Bengal, where the incident occurred, C. V. Ananda Bose, arrived in New Delhi to discuss the matter with President Mormu.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the female intern who was killed was found raped and murdered in a hospital in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, India, on August 9. A hospital staff member said that the female doctor was assaulted while sleeping in a hall of the hospital. Indian police have arrested a man involved in the case, whose job was to help maintain queue order in the hospital.

The investigation into the case is still ongoing and the identity details of the victim have not been made public under Indian law.

In the nearly two weeks since the incident, Indian doctors and women's groups have held strikes and protests many times, demanding the improvement of women's rights and safety, which has seriously affected medical services across India. Some doctors have tried to provide limited medical services during the protests, but most doctors refuse to see non-emergency patients. Indian government officials have asked protesting doctors to resume their normal work, but most doctors have chosen to continue the strike until their demands are met.

According to The Guardian, in response to the doctors' strike, the government announced on August 20 that it would increase security personnel at all government hospitals by 25% and deploy bailiffs to respond to emergencies. The Supreme Court of India also ordered the deployment of federal paramilitary forces at the hospital where the crime occurred to provide protection for female doctors who felt unsafe after the incident. In addition, the Supreme Court also suggested that the working group consider measures such as setting up separate lounges for female employees, improving campus lighting, expanding surveillance coverage, and establishing employee groups to conduct regular safety audits to protect employee safety, and asked the task force to submit a preliminary report within three weeks and a final report within two months.

At the same time, many Indian politicians have called for justice for women in speeches and rallies. On August 19, during the Rakṣābandhana event, the Governor of West Bengal said in a speech that "Democracy is declining in West Bengal. This situation cannot continue. Today, we must pledge to protect our daughters and sisters."

In his Independence Day speech on August 15, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not directly mention the rape and murder in Kolkata, but said the country must "think seriously about the atrocities against our mothers, sisters and daughters" and that "crimes against women should be investigated more urgently."

The death of the intern doctor is just one of several high-profile incidents of gender-based violence in India. On August 20, thousands of people blocked railway tracks for hours in Maharashtra state, disrupting train services, as they protested against the alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls by a school cleaner in Mumbai, Reuters reported.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old female medical student was beaten and gang-raped by six men on a bus in New Delhi, and then thrown out of the bus. She died of her injuries two weeks later. The incident triggered strong protests from the international community, forcing the Indian government to introduce stricter laws. However, these laws have not solved the problem of gender-based violence in India. The number of gender-based violence crimes in India is still on the rise: according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau of India, the number of rape cases reported in 2022 increased by 20% compared to 2021.