Festival glitter has failed to quell the ongoing protests over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital.
On the 10th day of their hunger strike, agitating junior doctors on Monday organised a massive protest march to the Raj Bhavan demanding a quick and transparent probe into the horrific incident.
Shouting slogans, the agitating doctors said, “We want justice for the RG Kar case. Don’t be afraid, “Tilottama” (one of the pseudonyms of the victim being used in public discourse); we have not backtracked on our demands. There is no place for rapists in Bengal, where Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Ram Mohan Roy were born.”
The protest march started from Dorina Crossing near Esplanade (in Central Kolkata), where a group of medics have been observing fast since October 5. Several people from different walks of the society joined the march.
“As we are not getting justice for our deceased sister, we are not accepting the government’s Puja carnival,” said the protesting junior doctors.
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is gearing up to organise larger-than-ever Durga Puja carnival this year, set for Tuesday. Since 2016, the government has been holding the carnival on Red Road to mark the culmination of the State’s biggest festival. This time the government plans to expand spectator galleries stretching beyond Red Road.
The government has faced severe criticism for its decision to organise the carnival this year as the state has been witnessing a continuous protest over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The body of the on-duty woman doctor was found inside the seminar room of the emergency building of the hospital on August 9.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the rape-murder case. During the protest march, the agitating doctors also raised questions on why the CBI was taking “too much time” for the investigation.
With the ‘fast-unto-death’ by the junior doctors in West Bengal entering the 10th day, the health conditions of several medics deteriorated.
Meanwhile, the crucial meeting between representatives of 12 doctors’ associations in the state and Chief Secretary Manoj Pant at Swasthya Bhavan in the city concluded without any resolution as the government did not want to set a timeline to resolve the deadlock.
According to the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum, the meeting remained “unproductive” as the Chief Secretary indicated that he could not provide any deadlines to meet the doctors’ demands.
Speaking to the media, Pant said seven demands out of 10 had already been addressed. “For the remaining three demands, the associations were requesting specific timelines. These are administrative decisions that the government needs to consider. So we cannot provide a deadline at this point,” he said, adding the government assured the doctors that it has noted their issues and grievances.
“As we are concerned about the junior doctors’ health and well-being, we urged the associations to persuade them to withdraw their hunger strike,” the Chief Secretary added.