Kolkata doctor rape, murder case: Massive protests erupt across medical colleges in West Bengal

Massive protests by medical professionals in Kolkata following alleged rape and murder of female doctor. Calls for increased safety measures.

Massive protests have erupted among junior doctors and medical professionals in medical colleges and hospitals across the State following the alleged rape and murder of a female doctor at the State-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. 

This follows the arrest of a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy on Saturday morning in connection to the case. The accused was produced before a city court and was remanded to 10 days of police custody.

On Saturday, junior doctors, residents and paramedic staff organised protests in multiple medical colleges in the State, including RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Medical College, Kolkata, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital as well as government-run medical colleges outside the city like Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital and others.

At RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the 31-year-old post-graduate trainee was allegedly raped and murdered on duty, the situation remained tense on Saturday. Hundreds of students, junior doctors, and residents shouted slogans and conducted sit-in demonstrations in the rain, demanding increased safety on the hospital premises and strict action against the accused. The campus also saw the heavy deployment of police forces and dissatisfaction among OPD patients who could not avail medical services owing to the protests.

“The resident doctors of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital demand strict action to address the flawed security agency of the hospital, as well as increased installation of CCTV cameras with 24x7 real-time monitoring,” Dr. Arif Naskar of the college’s Medicine department said at the protest on Saturday. “We also want the post-mortem report to be released immediately and a fast-track court to be formed for the punishment of the culprit.”

Dr. Naskar added that medical services in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital will stay on halt until college authorities respond to their ten-point demands. Meanwhile, a one-day strike was called by protesting junior doctors and staff of other State-run hospitals like Medical College, Kolkata, and Calcutta National Medical College.

“We have been feeling extremely unsafe since yesterday. I stay in the college hostel, and my parents have been calling me up repeatedly out of anxiety. How can we do night duty if we are feeling so unsafe?” Amrita Dey, a third-year student of BSc nursing at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital told The Hindu. She added that not all CCTV cameras on campus are functional, and that should be resolved at the earliest.