“When she was a student, she would always tell me to make payasam (rice-milk pudding) for her. I can never make that again,” says the mother of the junior doctor who was raped and killed at the state-run RG Kar hospital in Kolkata last August, triggering a national outrage.
“After she started working, she would tell me not to cook on her birthday, but instead order food from outside. That’s how we celebrated,” she adds.
On Sunday, February 9, she would have turned 32, and a doctor.
Sitting in her near-empty room, the mother, in tears, says they have no other reason to live except to fight for justice. “The culprits are still roaming around freely and some are still in the hospital… We will continue our fight for justice till the end. There is no other reason for us to live,” she says.
Last month, a court in Sealdah sentenced Sanjoy Roy, the lone accused, to life imprisonment “until his last breath” in the rape and murder case.
While convicting Roy, a 35-year-old civic volunteer, the court said it wasn’t “rarest of rare case”.
The junior doctor’s parents, unhappy with the CBI probe, have moved the Calcutta High Court seeking further reinvestigation and a retrial. “The administration is more interested in seeing that we don’t get justice. We are not getting justice anywhere so we have to snatch away justice. We met with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. He said he knew about the matter. We gave him all the documents and he assured us that he will look into the matter,” says the father of the victim.
“We don’t want to remember the past, we have to look forward and fight for justice for our daughter,” he adds.
The parents had earlier urged people to renew the agitation on her birthday. Last year, following the rape-murder incident on August 9, there was national outrage and massive protests of doctors in West Bengal.
While, Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari met the parents of the junior doctor, state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said he performed tarpan for her at Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. “We are with the parents in their fight for justice. There is no politics involved. Whoever has done the investigation has not done it properly. We are not happy. We just want justice to be served,” said Adhikari.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that the rape and murder of the trainee doctor at the state-run hospital in Kolkata proved that “the system is rotten in West Bengal where ‘goondas’ are inducted into social policing initiatives like civic police”.
“What happened in R G Kar is a matter of grave concern. The induction of goondas into social policing shows the system is rotten. It is worrying for the republic,” he said. —With PTI
Tribute to Her: Silent March, health Camps
Kolkata: A silent march was organised from College Street to RG Kar hospital in Kolkata on Sunday. Scores of people joined the march.
One of the organisers of the protest under the banner of ‘Abhaya Manch’ said that it was decided that the rally would be a silent one in view of the class 10 West Bengal school board examinations starting on Monday.
Health check camps were also held at two places in Kolkata. “We are organising the health camps as a tribute to her. We want to bring awareness among people to fight for justice,” said a junior doctor.
“Over 110 patients have already availed services at Abhaya Clinic, and each was handed a sapling. Our sister loved plants and had dedicated her life to serving people,” another junior doctor was quoted as saying by PTI.—ENS