kolkata doctor rap and murder case investigation
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kolkata doctor rap and muder |
What happened in the Calcutta rape case that sparked the doctors' protests?
Following the rape and murder of a medical student in Calcutta, India, 4,444 Indian activists and doctors are calling for better protections for women and medical staff.
Activists and doctors across India continued to protest on Wednesday, demanding justice for a doctor who was raped and murdered while working at a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.
On Wednesday evening, the eve of India's Independence Day, feminist groups took to the streets of Kolkata under the slogan "Take back the night", to express solidarity with the victim and to demand the resignation of the principal of RG Kahl Medical College. Some feminist protesters marched well beyond Kolkata, including to the capital, Delhi.
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The protests were largely peaceful, but a small mob of men attacked a medical college and destroyed property. The group was dispersed by police.
Earlier, doctors staged two days of nationwide protests following the incident at RG Kaur Medical College in the West Bengal capital. "The sit-ins and riots on hospital premises will continue," one of the doctors who took part in the protests, who only gave her name as Mridul, told Al Jazeera.
With some medical centres suspending operations indefinitely, the marches and vigils have highlighted issues of sexual violence and doctor safety in the world's most populous country.
What happened to the Calcutta doctor?
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kolkata doctor rap and muder |
On August 9, the body of a 31-year-old aspiring doctor was found with multiple injuries at a government teaching hospital in Kolkata.
The victim's parents were initially told by the hospital management that their daughter had committed suicide, lawyer and women's rights activist Brinda Grover told Al Jazeera. But an autopsy confirmed that the victim had been raped and murdered.
Grover has previously represented victims of sexual violence in India, including Bilquis Bano, a Muslim woman gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, and Soni Soli, a tribal activist from Chhattisgarh.
Thousands of doctors demonstrated in Kolkata on Monday, demanding better security measures and justice for the victims. On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Federation of Resident Doctors Associations (FORDA) has called for a nationwide halt to elective services in hospitals from Monday. Elective services are medical procedures that can be postponed or are deemed not medically necessary. General Hospital, Vijayawada, August 14 [Idrees Mohammed/AFP]
On Tuesday, FORDA announced on Account X that it would call off the strike after Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda accepted the protesters' demands.
One of these demands is the consolidation of the Central Protection of Medical Personnel from Violence Act, 2022, a key law to protect health workers from violence,
FORDA said the ministry would begin work on the act within 15 days of the publication of the press release and that a written statement from the ministry was expected soon.
Why are some Indian doctors continuing their protests?
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kolkata doctor rap and muder |
But other doctors' associations and hospitals have said they will not call off the strike until a concrete solution is found, including a central law to curb attacks on doctors.
According to local media reports, associations remaining on strike include the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and the Indira Gandhi Hospital.
Raghunandan Dikshit, general secretary of the AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, said they would continue the indefinite strike until their demands, including a written guarantee for the implementation of the central bailable law, are met.
Indian medical professionals want a central law to make violence against doctors non-bailable in the hope that such violent crimes against doctors will be prevented in the future.
The ongoing protests also demand the removal of the college's principal, who has been transferred. Abdul Wakim Khan, a protesting doctor, told news agency ANI.
"Calling the strike now means junior doctors may never get justice," he said. Dhruv Chauhan, national councillor, Junior Doctors Network, Indian Medical Association, told local news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
In which Indian states did doctors protest?
The protests began in Kolkata in West Bengal on Monday and spread across the country on Tuesday. Doctors' protests also took place in the capital New Delhi, the union territory of Chandigarh, Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the city of Prayagraj, Patna, the capital of Bihar, and in the southern state of Goa.
Local media reported that police had arrested Sanjoy Roy, a volunteer who frequently visits the hospital. He had full access to the station and police had found strong evidence against him.
According to local media, the victim's parents told the court that she was suspected of gang-rape.
Sexual violence is widespread in India, with an average of 90 rape cases reported per day in 2022.
Laws against sexual violence were strengthened following the 2012 rape case in which a 22-year-old physiotherapist trainee was brutally raped and murdered on a Delhi bus. Four men were hanged for a gang-rape that sparked nationwide protests.
But despite the new laws, "the trend of sexual violence in India continues to grow unabated," Grover said.
She added that in her experience, most workplaces pay little attention to diligent and consistent enforcement of the law.
"It's unfortunate that governments and institutions only react when women are victimized."
"They are already victims of sexual assault and often die in the incident," he added, saying no preventative measures were being taken.
In 2002, Bano was raped by 11 men who were given life sentences. In 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government approved the men's release, and they were welcomed with applause and wreaths upon their release.
But after a public outcry, their sentences were overturned and the Supreme Court sent the rapists back to prison.
Grover believes that the death penalty will not deter rapists unless India addresses its deep-rooted problem of sexual violence.
What makes this case stand out is the fact that it happened in Calcutta, NPR freelance contributor Sandip Roy told Al Jazeera. "Indeed, Calcutta has long prided itself on the fact that it is relatively safe for women, with very few cases of violence against women."
According to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Kolkata had the lowest number of rape cases among 19 metropolitan areas, with 11 cases throughout the year. In comparison, New Delhi has recorded 1,226 cases this year. Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded the dismissal of the government of Mamata Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), the state of West Bengal where Kolkata is located. Banerjee's party is part of the opposition coalition. Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi also demanded justice for the victim. Roy posted on Wednesday about the politicisation of the case in West Bengal, where it is ruled by the opposition, saying, "The attempt to save the accused instead of giving justice to the victim raises serious questions about the hospital and the local administration.". "Local opponents will try to spin this into an issue of women's safety in the state," he said.
Have Indian doctors protested before?
Roy told Al Jazeera that the incident involved the intersection of two types of violence: violence against women and violence against "overburdened medical professionals".
Indian doctors lack adequate workplace safety and attacks on doctors have sparked protests before in India.
In 2019, two junior doctors at Kolkata's Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) were physically assaulted by a mob after a 75-year-old patient died inside the hospital.
These attacks sparked protests by doctors in Calcutta, and senior doctors in West Bengal offered their resignations in solidarity with the junior doctors who were attacked.
According to a 2015 survey by the Indian Medical Association, more than 75 percent of doctors in India have experienced some form of violence.
What happens next?
Under Indian law, investigations into rape or gang-rape cases must be completed within two months of filing a first information report (police complaint), Grover said.
The West Bengal Supreme Court, which handed over the case from the local police to the CBI on Tuesday, directed the central investigating agency to submit regular status reports on the progress of the investigation.
As the FIR was filed on August 9, the investigation is expected to be completed by October 9.
On the night of celebrating 78 years as an independent state,
Bengali women will make history by staging night-time protests at various strategic locations across the state on August 14, 2024, at 11:55 pm. The aim of the "Women, Take Back the Night: Night is Ours" campaign is to...