After rape and murder of assistant doctor, Indian women protest for more protection
Tens of thousands of Indian women took part in protests in West Bengal and across the country demanding protection from sexual violence following the rape and murder of a junior doctor on night shift at a public hospital in Kolkata. Photo: Piyal AdhikaryEPA-EFE
Aug. 15 (UPI) – Tens of thousands of women took to the streets overnight in eastern India to protest the rape and murder of a junior doctor who was working the night shift at a public hospital in Calcutta.
The “Reclaim the Night” march, on the eve of a holiday commemorating 77 years of independence from Britain, was the culmination of five days of nationwide demonstrations by medical workers sparked by the killing of the unnamed 31-year-old resident of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday.
A man who volunteers at the hospital has been arrested in connection with the murder, but the women are demanding “independence to live in freedom and without fear,” while the medical professionals are calling for federal legislation to protect female doctors and nurses.
Almost 30% of doctors and 80% of nurses in India are women.
Protesters are also demanding justice as they fear a cover-up after the hospital initially claimed the woman, a PhD student, had committed suicide. The sudden resignation of the college’s principal on Monday amid the crisis sparked further anger after it was revealed he had taken up a new post at the city’s National Medical College and Hospital.
On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi took over the case and took the suspect into custody, ahead of the protests on Wednesday when the dispute escalated.
The hospital’s emergency room was stormed and vandalized on Wednesday evening by a mob that attacked police and damaged police vehicles. Police responded with tear gas.
Reports circulated on social media that the mob had vandalised the crime scene – a seminar room where the doctor was attacked while she was sleeping. Police immediately denied the allegations and threatened to prosecute those who spread false information.
“The crime scene is the seminar room, which is intact and has not been touched. Do not spread false reports. We will take legal action,” Kolkata Police said in a post on X.
Elsewhere, protests in the state of West Bengal, as well as in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, in which many men also took part, passed largely without incident.
Mamata Banerjee, the state’s chief minister who has been heavily criticised for her handling of the case, on Wednesday asked doctors to hold back and give authorities time and space to conduct a proper investigation as innocent people had been harmed.
“The death penalty should be imposed on those who are actually responsible for the crime, but innocent people should not be punished,” said Banerjee, the leader of the ruling All India Trinamool Congress Party (an offshoot of the Congress Party), which she founded.
“I beg you. If necessary, I am ready to touch your feet so that you can go back to work. Three people have lost their lives, one of them a child and another a pregnant woman.”
Banerjee stressed that she respected the achievements of both senior and junior doctors, but asked them to be patient, saying she was confident that the CBI would meet the August 18 deadline she had set for the police to complete their investigation.
However, the state’s governor, Ananda Bose, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opposition BJP party, accused the police of corruption and blamed the government for what he called a “bloodbath”.
“It is a disgrace for Bengal, India and humanity. The guardians of the law have themselves become conspirators. A section of the police is being politicised and criminalised. This decay must end,” he said at a press conference on Thursday after surveying the damage from last night’s attack.
“The government is responsible for this. The primary responsibility lies with the government,” Bose said. “We want security so that you are safe when you go to work at night. It is nothing but a bloodbath that is going on here.”
In his Independence Day address on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi called for the “strictest punishment” of perpetrators of “atrocities against our mothers and sisters”, both as a deterrent and to ensure that people do not lose faith in society.
“The country, society and our state governments must take this seriously. Crimes against women must be investigated as soon as possible and those involved in demonic acts must be punished severely as soon as possible,” Modi said, not directly referring to the events in West Bengal.
