New Delhi

In a rare development, the President of India Droupadi Murmu spoke about the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital, and expressed her ‘dismay and horror’. President Droupadi Murmu said, “Enough is enough”, as she highlighted the urgent need to step up societal overhaul to stop such crimes in future.

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Murmu also threw her weight behind recent protests in support of the victims and called for swift justice.

"Even as students, doctors, and citizens were protesting in Kolkata, criminals remained on the prowl elsewhere," President Murmu told the news agency PTI.

She said that the society needed "honest and unbiased self-introspection" and required to ask itself "some difficult questions".

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She also blamed such heinous crimes against women on "deplorable mindset" as most often women are seen as a "lesser human being, less powerful, less capable, and less intelligent".

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In a bold statement, she stressed that Indian society suffers from "collective amnesia". 

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"In 12 years since Nirbhaya, countless rapes have been forgotten by society,” she said, referring to the 2012 gang rape and murder case in Delhi when a 23-year-old paramedic student was assaulted in a moving bus by six people and was later thrown out on the road. She later succumbed to the injuries.

It is "time now for India to face history squarely," she said.

"Let us deal with this perversion in a comprehensive manner to curb it right at the beginning," she added.

Also read: President Droupadi Murmu hosts dinner for outgoing Council of Ministers

India has been rocked by protests and calls for stricter implementation of anti-rape laws since the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor in Kolkata, West Bengal. As a part of their nationwide movement, junior doctors across India have refused to see non-emergency patients.

(With inputs from agencies)