West Bengal junior doctors bring out rally to demand justice for R.G. Kar victim

Junior doctors in Kolkata rally for justice for rape victim, highlighting flaws in CBI investigation and threat culture in hospitals.

Junior doctors took out a rally in Kolkata on Saturday (November 9, 2024) demanding justice for the 31-year-old rape and murder victim at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The procession was organised under the banner West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front and people from all walks of life sympathetic to the demands of the junior doctors joined the procession from College Street to Esplanade.

The body of a junior doctor was found inside the seminar room of the State run facility in the early hours of August 9 and since then the city had witnessed hundreds of such processions.

The protesting doctors held a dummy statue of the lady of justice as they marched on Saturday. The doctors who have been expressing dissatisfaction with the ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation also came out with a ‘janatar charge sheet (people’s charge sheet)’.

In the ‘charge sheet’, the WBJDF alleged shortcomings in the ongoing CBI investigation such as not clearly mentioning what items belonging to the victims were seized. While one person has been charged with rape and murder, many believe that multiple people could be involved in the horrific crime.

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against a civic police volunteer Sanjay Roy and accused him of rape and murder. Charges have been framed against the accused and trial will start from November 11 before a court in Kolkata. The Central agency has also arrested former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh and ex-officer-in-charge of Tala Police station Abhijit Mondal for tampering with the evidence in the case.

The protesting doctors have also come up with a gallery highlighting their protests for the past 90 days. The gallery called “droher gallery (protest gallery)” has come up at Medical College Kolkata. Similar galleries were set up in other medical colleges of the State. During the day the protesting doctors also held a convention at Star Theatre.