Kolkata doctor rape and murder: Mob attack fails to quell doctors’ fight for justice in Bengal

Police stand guard at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital after miscreants vandalised an emergency ward of the hospital in Kolkata on August 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Hours after a mob vandalised their protest site at the emergency ward of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in the early hours of August 15, junior doctors, students and nurses continued their agitation against the rape and murder of a female doctor on duty through Independence Day with renewed vigour.

Even as thousands of people in Kolkata and beyond participated in “Reclaim the Night” protests, about one hundred intoxicated miscreants stormed into the hospital’s premises soon after midnight. They vandalised the protest site, stripping down posters and destroying hospital property, including stocks of medicines, ventilators, stretchers, and beds.

Twelve people have been detained so far. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the attack on “politically-motivated outsiders who wish to create issues in the State” and urged the protesting doctors to return to work.

‘Stronger security needed’

Junior doctors, medicos and paramedics at RGKMCH and other hospitals across the State have been protesting for the last week, demanding justice for the victim and stronger safety measures at hospitals. After the vandalism, protesting doctors rebuilt the site of the agitation on Thursday and continued sloganeering. Their protests intensified with the arrival of the newly appointed principal of RGKMCH, Suhrita Pal.

Nurses who were on duty during the mob violence surrounded Ms. Pal at the protest site on Thursday afternoon and demanded to know whether security would be strengthened at the hospital. Referring to the overnight vandalism at the hospital premises, Ms. Pal said, “If you know anything, please tell me. I don’t know anything about them.”

Later in the evening, the principal addressed the press and agitating doctors and assured them that security has been heightened at the RGKMCH premises. “We are doing whatever is necessary to ensure safety and security,” she said.

“When the mob arrived, some of the police personnel swarmed into the gyanecology ward and asked us if they could hide amongst us. They even requested us for civilian clothes,” recalled one of the protesting nurses. “They are supposed to protect us, but we ended up protecting them. Higher authorities did not do anything to protect us.”

‘Return to duty’

The Kolkata Police arrested nine miscreants in connection with the mob violence. “The scene of the crime is [a] Seminar Room which is intact and has not been touched,” the Kolkata Police said in a post on X.

The State’s CM told local media that the mob “viciously attacked the police. A Deputy Commissioner was found unconscious due to injuries to his head. The police did not wish to resort to violence, so they took a peaceful stance.”

Ms. Banerjee added that she does not blame the protesting doctors, but she appealed to them to resume duty. “Poor people depend on State-run hospitals and they are suffering the most. I heard some families want their patients discharged from RGKMCH because of lack of doctors,” she said.

West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose also visited agitating doctors at RGKMCH on Thursday afternoon. “You will get justice… I am with you. We will fight it out everywhere and ensure that justice is given,” he told protesting doctors. “I will see to it that the society of Bengal should be made a society where women can live happily. Now it is not.”

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