At ground zero of crime, RG Kar campus still bears scars of assault
Times of India | 9 August 2025
Kolkata: A year after the gruesome rape and murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College, the campus continues to bear the scars of the heinous crime that shook the entire nation. Amidst some tangible changes, the seminar room on the third floor of the emergency building, which witnessed the crime, remains sealed. The emergency unit on the ground floor, which bore the brunt of mob vandalism, remains in tatters. Despite these two particular spaces remaining frozen in time, the campus has seen some visible changes, especially in security and amenities.
"The seminar room, which is still sealed, is a constant reminder of the painful incident. While security has been beefed up on the campus, we still feel a little edgy while passing by this area," said a nurse, who often has to work in the chest dept on night duty.
As the medical college mourns one year of losing the bright young doctor, the campus now is under massive CCTV surveillance. Before the Aug 9 incident last year, there were only about 200 CCTV cameras. As part of the security beef-up, 532 cameras were installed after the incident. Teamed up with additional security forces, the hospital today has a much heightened security. "The enhanced security prompted by the unfortunate incident is the biggest change on the campus, making us confident to work on odd shifts," said a woman junior doctor.
In addition to the CISF personnel, the hospital's own security guard strength was enhanced by 85 personnel, adding to the pool of 230. "No doubt there is a marked improvement in security measures along with amenity facilities like on-duty rooms and washrooms. But many of the promises, including panic buttons and a central reference system, have not been implemented," said anaesthesiologist Aniket Mahata, a prominent face of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front.
In the absence of a rest room, the 31-year-old was reportedly taking rest in the seminar room of her dept where she was raped and murdered. Most of the departments that have space now have separate washrooms and rest rooms for on-duty doctors, including the chest medicine department, where the 31-year-old was undergoing her second-year PG training.
The emergency unit was vandalised on the intervening night of Aug 14 and 15 last year by a mob. Even as the probe agencies gave a green signal to revamp the unit about 10 months ago, no repair has taken place. A damaged state-of-the-art laboratory, hybrid critical care unit beds, ventilators, emergency medical storeroom, oxygen kiosks, patient monitoring devices, ECG devices, CT scan, X-ray machines, and the changing room for nurses all lie in the same state. Sources pointed at unavailability of funds to carry out repairs.
While the emergency facilities were one of the best, after the vandalism, the emergency unit has been functioning from trauma care centre, which doctors said is ill-equipped. "Forget about amenities like washrooms and rest rooms, the space from where we are attending to emergency patients at trauma care unit does not have ventilators or BiPAP machines. Presence of CISF personnel is the saving grace for us, averting mob violence from families of emergency patients," said emergency medical officer Tapas Pramanick.
In the chest medicine dept, the number of PG seats has decreased from 6 to 4 due to a lack of faculty. Two faculty members, including the dept head, were transferred after the incident, and there is no replacement even a year later.