On Saturday, doctors and civilians gathered at Esplanade in Kolkata to commemorate the 90th day “without justice” since the tragic rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. The rally was organised by the West Bengal Doctors Forum and the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal.
The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), which has been at the forefront of protests demanding justice since the incident on August 9, marched to Esplanade from College Square under the banner of ‘Janatar Matamat, Rajpothe Aadalat (Public opinion, court on the street), along with a copy of the Constitution of India and a statue of the Lady Justice.
Time and again, protesting doctors have raised concerns about the CBI investigation overseen by the Supreme Court of India. The central agency’s chargesheet has so far accused only one individual in the rape and murder of the trainee doctor.
Nonetheless, the protesting doctors believe there were others involved who have not yet been arrested. To demand that the CBI arrest others who were allegedly involved, they presented the janatar chargesheet (public chargesheet).
In the so-called chargesheet, they pointed out alleged shortcomings in the ongoing CBI investigation such as not clearly mentioning what items belonging to the victims were seized. The protesters also questioned about the CBI’s response to construction activities that occurred near the crime scene after the August 9 incident.
The medicos further called out the CBI’s investigation into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar and the role of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the institution.
However, there was visibly less crowd in comparison to the earlier protest events by junior doctors such as the ‘seize the night’ call on August 14 midnight, marches to West Bengal health department and Kolkata Police headquarters and the subsequent dharmas in front of them, and hunger strike.