RG Kar case: Junior doctors, citizens march to CBI office in Salt Lake seeking justice
Telegraph | 31 October 2024
A section of junior doctors and many Calcuttans walked in a rally from the office of the West Bengal Medical Council in Salt Lake to the CBI office in the township, several of them with flaming torches in hand.
Although 80 days have passed since the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, justice has not been delivered yet, said Asfakulla Naiya, a junior doctor who walked in the rally.
The start and end points of the rally were outside the offices of the two institutions that have drawn the ire of a section of the junior doctors. The CBI, which is probing the rape and murder, has said in its first chargesheet that the probe so far has found that only one man committed the crime.
Sanjoy Roy, who was a civic volunteer, was arrested by Kolkata Police a day after the crime.
The junior doctors who walked in Wednesday’s rally alleged that the rape and murder was an “institutional crime”.
The doctors have also accused some members of the medical council of aiding corruption in the state’s government-run healthcare system.
Wednesday’s rally started around 6pm and reached the CGO Complex, which houses a CBI office, around 7.45pm. After reaching the CGO Complex, the protesters shouted slogans for nearly 45 minutes.
There, the protesters demanded a quick probe. They chanted slogans asking why the CBI was taking so long to complete its investigation. “Aar kotodin samay chai/Jawab dao CBI (Tell us CBI/How much longer you need)”?
One of the slogans also suggested a tacit understanding between the state government and the Centre. The cry went: “Setting amra manbo na/Rajpath chharbo na (We will not accept any pact/We will not leave the roads)”.
“We wonder if a single person can inflict 23 injuries on a woman inside the hospital. Why is the CBI unable to make fresh arrests? If there is proof of evidence tampering, why hasn’t the CBI arrested those involved? We want answers to all these questions,” said Aniket Mahata, a leader among the junior doctors.
Debashis Halder, another face of the junior doctors’ protest, told Metro on Wednesday that they decided to carry the flaming torches to send a message that the “flames of the movement have not extinguished, they continue to burn brighter than ever”.
The junior doctors also said they planned to organise protests on November 9, which will mark three months since the rape and murder.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, another outfit of junior doctors, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Association, marched from Sealdah’s Prachi cinema to the Sealdah Court. They were demanding capital punishment for the culprits involved in the rape and murder.
This group included some junior doctors who were barred from entering medical colleges for their alleged involvement in intimidating their colleagues. One of them said they were also demanding justice for the “unjust action” against them.
“We are asking the CBI to expedite the investigation,” said Shreesh Chakraborty, the convener of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Association and an intern at RG Kar.