Kolkata: People take part in a protest over the alleged sexual assault and murder of a trainee doctor, in Kolkata, Sunday, September 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Kolkata
Kolkata and several other parts of West Bengal witnessed unprecedented protests on Sunday (September 8, 2024) to mark one month of the rape and murder of a doctor at the city’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
People from all walks of life, including doctors, alumni of educational institutions, potters from Kumartuli, artists and even rickshaw pullers joined the protest on the eve of the Supreme Court hearing the gruesome crime that has shocked West Bengal and triggered protests across the country. As the dusk descended, thousands of people, including women, joined the “ Reclaim the Night’ march on Sunday (September 8, 2024). This was the second occasion after August 14 when women hit the streets to “Reclaim the Night”.
The body of the woman doctor was recovered from the seminar hall of the State-run hospital in the early hours of August 9. The metropolis remains tense with hundreds of protests of different shades and colour taking place ever since. The parents of the murdered doctor also participated in a protest in the Esplanade area of the city.
“Whenever I think about the torment, the pain my daughter would have experienced that night, I shudder. She had dreams to serve the society, Now, all these protesters are all my children,” her mother said. An aunt of the victim said that so far the slogan has been “We want justice”, and now it would be “We demand justice”.
Resident doctors of the RG Kar MCH , the epicentre of the protests, formed a human chain and sang the national anthem holding the tricolour. The doctors of Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital, raising cries for justice, released black balloons in the air.
Sculptures and potters participated in a protest rally at Kumatuli. They sculpted an image of Goddess Durga and painted it to show tears flowing from her eyes. Hand pulled rickshaws, associated with the identity of the city, participated in a protest rally from Hedua in North Kolkata to College street. There were posters hung up on the rickshaws demanding justice for the victim.
A protest rally at South Kolkata’s Gariahat witnessed the participation of thousands with alumni of over 50 schools. The protesters carried a banner appealing to the Supreme Court to deliver justice for the victim. They said that they wanted safe workplaces for women.
So far, only one person has been arrested in connection with the crime. Sanjay Roy, a civic police volunteer, was arrested by the Kolkata Police before the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 13.
Later, former RG Kar MCH principal Sandip Kumar Ghosh, along with three others, was arrested by the CBI in a case of corruption at the State health facility. Several questions on the circumstances of the rape and murder remain unanswered, while the doctor’s parents have claimed that they were offered money and were pressurized to immediately cremate the body after the incident. There are also unanswered questions on the presence of several people near the crime scene when it happened and on attempts to carry out renovation work near the seminar room.
The protests have come as a major challenge for the ruling Trinamool Congress government. On Sunday, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar sent a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing his resignation from the upper house.
Published – September 08, 2024 10:20 pm IST