Actor Shabana Azmi has spoken about the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata earlier this month. Speaking with the media after attending an event in Pune, Shabana urged people to stop treating women as commodities.

Shabana reacts to rape, murder of Kolkata doctor

Shabana said, as quoted by news agency ANI, "Such incidents are extremely dangerous. It's embarrassing to see that these kinds of heinous acts have not reduced despite the formation of Justice Verma Committee back in 2012 during the Nirbhaya case. We should not treat women as commodities... we need to dismantle patriarchy which is deep-rooted in us."

President too reacted to the incident

Earlier on Wednesday, President Droupadi Murmu expressed anguish over the rising cases of crimes against women in the wake of the gruesome rape and murder of the young doctor in Kolkata. She penned an open letter, Women's Safety: Enough is Enough, in which she called for self-introspection to uncover the roots of the malaise.

Expressing concern over collective amnesia over the memory of criminality, she said the time has come not only to face history squarely "but also to search within our souls and probe the pathology of crime against women". On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered on duty at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, which has led to protests. People have been demanding severe punishment for the accused, and seeking safety and security for themselves.

Celebs reacted to incident, held protests

Many celebrities, including Kareena Kapoor, Randeep Hooda, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra, John Abraham, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vivek Agnihotri and Neena Gupta, among others, expressed shock over the incident. Celebrities from Bengali film industry including Saheb Chatterjee, Soumyojit, Mimi Chakraborty, Subhashree Ganguly, Riddhi Sen, Arindam Sil, and Madhumita Sarcar joined protests in Kolkata.

Shabana's films

Shabana was last seen in Ghoomer (2023), a sports drama film written and directed by R Balki. It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Saiyami Kher, and Angad Bedi, among others. The film was released theatrically last August. Shabana made her debut with the film Ankur (1974), which earned her first National Film Award for Best Actress. Over the years, the actress has starred in several films, including Arth (1982), Masoom (1983), Mandi (1983), and Fire (1996).