Gendered space, gendered time: Kolkata’s “Reclaim the Night” movement

August 2024 witnessed an unprecedented movement in Kolkata. “Reclaim the Night”, the biggest mobilisation and protest the city had witnessed since Indian independence, erupted in the aftermath of the rape and murder of an on-duty trainee doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata and demanded inclusive “nights”, and safer spaces. Soon, the movement spread to other parts of India and eventually crossed national borders when the diaspora joined the protests. In the context of these protests, this paper argues that the twin gendering of space and time allows a neoliberal state-endorsed neopatriarchy to champion and celebrate male dominance and female exclusion, which systematically regiment and delimit women’s mobility. Gradually, the movement waned, and the protests faded, with justice still awaited.