Protests continued in Kolkata on Wednesday against the CBI’s failure to file a supplementary chargesheet against Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and officer-in-charge of local Tala police station Abhijit Mondal, in the case related to the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the medical institution.
Protesters belonging to Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD) and Abhaya Mancha, an umbrella organisation of people from all sections of the society, came together in a mass gathering at Esplanade and demanded justice for the victim and her family.
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The group criticised the CBI for its "inefficient investigation" and accused the state government of shielding individuals allegedly involved in the crime.
Protesters, wearing black badges and holding placards, argued that more than one person was involved in the trainee doctor’s rape and murder, countering the CBI’s claim that only Sanjoy Ray, who is named in their chargesheet, was responsible.
Wedensday’s protests happened after Kolkata Police denied permission to the JPD, an organisation of senior doctors, on Tuesday for a dharna at the busy Dorina crossing in Esplanade from December 17 to 26. The JPD filed a petition at the Calcutta High Court challenging Kolkata Police’s decision. However, with the court remaining closed on Wednesday, the petition could not come up for hearing during the day as scheduled earlier.
The senior doctors want to stage the dharna with two demands. The first is that the CBI submit its supplementary chargesheet against Ghosh and Monday, whom the agency had claimed tampered evidence and tried to cover up the crime.
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The protesters' second demand is for the West Bengal government to grant approval for the prosecution of Sandip Ghosh and Dr. Ashish Kumar Pandey, who was the house staff at RG Kar at the time.
Even though the junior doctors, who had been at the forefront of the protests in the aftermath of the trainee doctor’s death, are not part of the protests byAbhaya Mancha and JPD, they expressed their solidarity.
“We have our support and if they are allowed to sit in dharna, we will surely visit and extend our solidarity in person. These protests show that our movement has not died and people are still willing to fight for justice,” Dr. Aniket Mahato, a representative of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front told THE WEEK.
