Amid rising tensions over the rape and murder of a young doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, protestors continued their agitations on Thursday with several civil society organisations hitting the streets of the city against the brutal crime.
The Congress also organised a rally in Kolkata, protesting against the rape and murder of the 31-year-old woman doctor at the state-run hospital. The party, led by its senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, took out a rally from College Square and proceeded towards Shyambazar five-point crossing in north Kolkata, close to RG Kar hospital, where the on duty doctor’s body was found on August 9.
In another rally, hundreds of women, carrying placards and banners, marched on the streets of the city, demanding stringent action against the perpetrators of the heinous crime. They also called for stronger safety measures for women in Kolkata.
Under the banner of ‘Pather Daabi’ or ‘Street’s Demand’, another major rally was organised. The protestors brought together people from diverse backgrounds to voice their anger against the RG Kar hospital incident, which has shaken the entire country.
Audio clips
Protests in Kolkata intensified on Thursday after a couple of audio clips of purported conversations between the parents of the rape-murder victim and the RG Kar hospital officials have surfaced. It revealed how the officials purportedly tried to mislead the parents of the woman doctor. In the audio clip, the hospital staff can be heard hiding the real incident.
Agitating junior doctors at State-run hospitals have been continuing cease-work to protest against the rape and murder of the medic, rejecting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s appeal to join duty. The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum said they would not withdraw the agitation unless their demands, such as justice for the deceased doctor of the RG Kar hospital, were met.
The Chief Minister on Thursday asserted that she did not threaten junior doctors at State-run hospitals who have been continuing cease-work for 21 days now.
Banerjee said accusations that have come from certain quarters of her threatening the agitating junior doctors are “completely false” and part of a “malicious disinformation campaign”.
“Let me most emphatically clarify that I have not uttered a single word against the (medical etc.) students or their movements. I totally support their movement. Their movement is genuine. I never threatened them, as some people are accusing me of doing. This allegation is completely false,” she wrote on X.