‘Some demands yet to be met, will keep the heat up’
Times of India | 14 August 2024
Kolkata: The protesting doctors at R G Kar Medical College have refused to go back to work despite the Calcutta High Court handing over the investigation to the CBI. While they welcomed the court’s order, they said some of their demands remained unfulfilled and they would keep the heat up on CBI to expedite the procedure of investigation.
Resident doctors, house staffers and interns have been on cease-work for five days after the rape and murder of a second-year PGT doctor at the state-run medical college.The protesting doctors at the hospital have stayed away from work, including that of emergency.
“We welcome Calcutta High Court’s order of handing over of the case to CBI which is in sync with our demands for judicial inquiry. This is an unprecedented incident, and we would like to see a very speedy and convincing investigation into this gruesome rape and murder of our colleague,” said Aniket Mahata, PGT doctor in the anaesthesiology department.
Right from day one, the agitating doctors have been pointing out the possibility of involvement of more than one person in the crime of raping and murdering the 31-year-old. The same is being echoed by many senior doctors across the board and across hospitals. Kolkata Police has so far arrested only one person, Sanjay Roy, a police civic volunteer and the prime suspect.
“We are quite convinced that the brutal crime was committed by more than one person. There is possibility of involvement of multiple persons. We demand the arrest of all involved in this heinous crime immediately and see that they get the highest punishment,” added Mahata, a spokesperson of the R G Kar Medical College.
The agitators have been staying away from hospital services, including emergency and OPDs. Even as principal Sandip Ghosh has been shunted, they said the steps taken by the health department were not enough to win their confidence.
“Our demand was that he should not be assigned any administrative post in any medical college. We also demanded similar steps against the MSVP, dean of student affairs and the assistant super who had informed the deceased PGT’s parents that she had ended her life,” said anther PGT on agitation.
Even as the agitation was started by junior doctors many senior faculty members also took token participation by visiting the protest venue. On Tuesday, faculty members of various departments were seen showing their solidarity with their students in colleges like R G Kar and NRS. They said that they stand by the justified demands of their students and will continue to support their movement morally.
“There have been all attempts to cover up the incident from the hospital administration side. And we want each of those involved in this attempt to be identified and investigations against them. We fear that the probe will slow down if we leave the protest midway. Hence we will continue our agitation till we are convinced about the course of the probe,” said an intern.