Content warning: this article contains mentions of rape, sexual assault and violence

With a rape reportedly occurring every 16 minutes, India has a dark reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world for women. A new case in Kolkata has brought the issue of gender-based and sexual violence to the forefront once again. On 9 August, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead in a seminar room in the Kolkata hospital where she worked. Local news reports said she’d fallen asleep in a classroom after a 36-hour-shift, as there was no designated rest area for staff members. But the autopsy showed she had suffered severe injuries and that her body showed signs of brutal physical and sexual assault.

The parents of the victim were initially told by hospital authorities that “their daughter had committed suicide”, lawyer and women’s rights activist Vrinda Grover told Al Jazeera. Her parents believe that more than one person was involved in her death, but only one male hospital volunteer worker has been arrested so far. The Kolkata High Court has transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the domestic crime investigating agency of India.

In the weeks following the Kolkata case, “reclaim the march”-style protests broke out in several states across India, demanding better security and protections for women in the workplace. Protestors, many of whom were medical professionals themselves, said they don’t feel safe at work, don’t have safe resting places for when they do shift work and are regularly sexually harassed by peers and patients. A nationwide strike by the Indian Medical Association also included a refusal of services to non-emergency patients. And when Indian government officials demanded that the protesting doctors return to work as usual, they refused until their demands were heard and met.

The death of a trainee doctor has sparked renewed conversations around sexual violence in India