Protesting junior doctors of multiple institutions, including RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, took out a march towards the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar on Monday demanding the resignation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal.
The march, under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), was cut short by the police, leading the junior doctors to sit in a dharna. The police informed that a group of student representatives would be permitted to visit Lalbazar.
The students, however, declined the request, citing security concerns about leaving the procession so far from the headquarters. They insisted that either the Commissioner come to meet them, or they be allowed to proceed to Lalbazar.
The protesters accuse Kolkata Police of repeatedly tampering with evidence in the alleged rape and murder case of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Even before making these allegations, junior doctors had voiced their distrust of the police, claiming that Sanjay Roy, the sole person arrested in the case, was being used as a scapegoat to protect other influential individuals involved.
Although Commissioner Goyal stated that the police never protected anyone or suggested that only one person was responsible for the heinous crime, the alleged renovation works near the crime scene and the mob attack on the night of August 14 further intensified the junior doctors' suspicions.
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“It was the police’s responsibility to ensure the protection of the crime scene and to ensure our protection, the students of RG Kar. They failed to do that,” Dr Debasish Halder of the anaesthesia department told THE WEEK.
“Now the police under Commissioner Vineet Goyal are saying that the claims of evidence tampering are media propaganda. Was the mob attack on August 14 a media propaganda? Is the video showing so many people at the crime scene on August 9 a media propaganda?”
Kolkata Police stated that the seminar hall where the victim’s body was discovered had been cordoned off within a 40-foot radius. The hall itself was 51 feet long, and the crowd that was seen had gathered within the remaining 11 feet.
During a press conference last week, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central Division, Indira Mukherjee, stated that the individuals seen in the viral video include forensic officers, the additional CP, fingerprint experts, eyewitness doctors, videographers, female officers from the local police station, among others.
Protesting junior doctors refused the claims. They allege many of the people who were seen inside the seminar hall were close associates of Dr. Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“We all saw what happened throughout the day on August 9. The police mishandled the entire situation under the leadership of Commissioner Vineet Goyal,” Dr. Titas Pal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital told THE WEEK.
She continued, “Even if we ignore that, how are we supposed to forget the mob attack on the night of August 14 and the supposed renovation work next to the seminal hall where the victim’s dead body was found?”
They cite Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta’s argument during the Supreme Court of India’s hearing of the case on August 22.
Representing the CBI, Mr. Mehta informed the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, that upon taking over the investigation on the fifth day, the central agency discovered that the crime scene had been altered.
The protesting junior doctors are currently staging a dharna in central Kolkata, demanding the resignation of the Police Commissioner. The situation remains deadlocked, with no indication that the commissioner will meet them.