Following the massive “Reclaim the Night” march on Independence Day eve protesting the rape and murder of a young doctor at the RG Kar hospital, Kolkata on Sunday witnessed similar mass protests across the city.
Thousands of the general public took to the streets, demanding justice for the victim and severe punishment for everyone involved in the heinous crime.
Widespread Outcry
Various apolitical groups and citizens’ forums took to the streets and marched from multiple locations across the city, protesting against the gruesome incident at the State-run hospital, where the body of the on-duty woman doctor was found on August 9.
Holding placards and raising slogans, thousands of protestors, including several prominent actors, singers, poets and painters, took out a massive protest rally from College Square and marched towards Esplanade in Central Kolkata. The demonstrators, mostly women, demanded stringent action against the perpetrators of the heinous crime. Protesting junior doctors from different State-run hospitals also joined the rally.
Alumni of the Ramakrishna Mission Institutions, along with their family members, organised a silent rally from its headquarters at GolPark in South Kolkata to the Academy of Fine Arts. The participants chanted verses from the Gita and soundedconch shells.
Kolkata witnessed a massive midnight protest against the RG Kar hospital rape-murder incident on August 14, when thousands of demonstrators, mostly women, flooded the streets, holding candles and shouting slogans.
Political stir
Significantly, Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Sunday stirred the political circle when he posted on the social media platform X: July 1789...Bastille Fort razed to ground by the agitating people, giving birth to historic French Revolution.”
Roy had previously participated in the protest. The Trinamool Congress leader was issued a notice by the Kolkata Police for tweeting “wrong information” about the probe in connection with the rape-murder case. He subsequently challenged the police action in the Calcutta High Court.
“When the people of West Bengal have continuously been protesting against the gruesome incident and demanding justice, today’s post of a senior Trinamool Congress leader (Sukhendu Sekhar Roy) signal the beginning of the end for the Trinamool Congress government in the State,” BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said.
The CBI is currently investigating the rape and murder of the woman doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.