‘CBI failure’ to file chargesheet in 90 days brings RG Kar protesters back on streets
Times of India | 15 December 2024
12 Kolkata: Doctors along with people from various walks of life once again took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the alleged failure of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the RG Kar rape-murder probe. Demanding speedy justice for the victim — the 31-year-old trainee doctor — the protesters asked why the CBI failed to file chargesheet against former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh and former Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mandal within 90 days of their arrest. The protests were held a day after the duo was granted bail by a special court.
Members of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF), Service Doctors' Forum (SDF), Medical Service Centre (MSC), and Nurses' Unity marched from Karunamoyee in Salt Lake to the CGO Complex, where they staged a stir.
Abhaya's parents also joined the protest in Salt Lake on Saturday. The victim's father said, "We don't know what the CBI is doing, but we will have to continue with the legal battle."
Soumyodip Roy, a junior doctor at RG Kar and a WBJDF member, said, "The CBI will have to take responsibility for its failure. We will carry on with our protest till Abhaya gets justice. We want to know why the CBI did not submit the chargesheet in the stipulated time. Was it pre-planned to safeguard the accused who have got bail?" Meanwhile, the SDF wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the deputy director of CBI at the CGO Complex on Saturday, expressing their anguish over the grant of bail to Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal.
"We urged the CM to grant the CBI the required approvals to file the chargesheet without further delay," said doctor Sajal Biswas, general secretary of SDF.
Alleging a nexus between the ruling parties in the state and at the Centre, members of Abhaya Manch held a protest on Rani Rashmoni Avenue and burnt the effigies of CM Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the CBI director. The protesters entered into a scuffle with the police when the latter tried to stop them.
Dhritiman Sengupta, a protester, said, "Cops pushed us and tried to shoo us away from the protest site. But we did not let them foil our protest. We are demanding immediate submission of a supplementary chargesheet by the CBI and that no objection be given to the central agency to submit the chargesheet to the court of law against Sandip Ghosh."
Marking the four-month anniversary of the "historic reclaim the night," movement, women and members of the trans and queer community staged a "scream of courage" protest at Ranuchaya Mancha on Cathedral Road. Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI), a student organisation of CPM, SUCI, and Congress, held protests in different places on Saturday.
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