The SFI on Saturday called for reforms to ensure women’s safety in educational institutes and the end of threat culture, as it raised questions on how rape accused were being protected while the families of victims were struggling for justice.

The central executive committee of the SFI, which held a media conference to mark the first anniversary of the rape-murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta, expressed concern over the rising cases of sexual offences against women across the country.

“We are seeing that instead of providing justice to the survivors, there is a deliberate attempt to protect the perpetrators,” SFI joint secretary Aishe Ghosh said, citing instances where rape accused were garlanded after their acquittal by the court.

Left outfits were at the forefront of the agitation against the Bengal government after the brutality at RG Kar.

SFI vice-president S. Shilpa blamed the apathetic attitude of the people in power for the struggles that the victims and their families have to encounter to get justice.

“Such behaviour is worrisome and concerning,” Shilpa said.

Shilpa cited the Balasore student’s suicide, the rapes in Kathua, Unnao and Hathras and the protests by women wrestlers in Haryana against sexual exploitation to drive home the point that they demonstrate a clear pattern of political, social and cultural pressure. Offenders with political connections continue to commit sexual offences with impunity without the fear of retribution, she added.

Shilpa recalled how the RG Kar victim’s family came to Delhi and tried to meet Union home minister Amit Shah to demand a fair probe, but they did not get an appointment.

SFI general secretary Srijan Bhattacharyya underscored a “tacit BJP-Trinamool understanding” in the RG Kar case that held back the CBI from conducting a proper inquiry and bringing the culprits to book. After the rise of the NDA government to power, various sections of society have fallen back on a regressive pattern inspired by Manusmriti, Bhattacharyya alleged.

“People who are supposed to ensure a secure environment for women are not doing their job. They are prioritising people and ideologies that stop women from engaging in public spaces.... stop them from coming to the schools and colleges,” Ghosh said.

Taking a dig at the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, Ghosh asked whether girls were safe in educational institutes and workplaces and whether they had access to basic amenities like washrooms.

Shilpa highlighted that many educational institutes and workplaces didn’t have a functional internal complaint committee (ICC) or a grievance redress forum to address complaints of sexual harassment against women.

“In many educational institutes, the ICC is only functioning on paper. No elected student representatives are part of such committees,” Shilpa said, demanding the revival of such forums on the campus.

Ghosh said India ranked 131 among 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2025.

To mark the first anniversary of the brutality at RG Kar on August 9, 2024, several programmes were held across Bengal.